Part 7

. With a red face, shaven to the superlative degree of shininess, with gills white and tremendous, with a noble white waistcoat.

1884. Daily Telegraph, July 8, p. 5, c. 4. Lord Macaulay wore, to the close of his life, ‘stick-ups,’ or gills.

To grease the gills.—verb. phr. (common).—To have a good meal; to wolf (q.v.).

To look blue (or queer, or green) about the gills, verb. phr. (common).—To be downcast or dejected; also to suffer from the effects of a debauch. Hence, conversely, to be rosy about the gills = to be cheerful.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. Most of them were very white and blue in the gills when we sat down, and others of a dingy sort of whitey-brown, while they ogled the viands in a most suspicious manner.

1892. G. Manville Fenn, Witness to the Deed, ch. ii. You look precious seedy. White about the gills.

A cant (or dig) in the gills, phr. (pugilists’).—A punch in the face. See Bang.

Gill-flirt, subs. (old).—A wanton; a flirt. For synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gaultiere, a whore, punke, drab, queane, gill, flirt. 1690. B. E., Dict, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. A proud minx.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gilly, subs. (American).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gilly-gaupus, subs. phr. (Scots).—A tall loutish fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gilt, subs. (popular).—1. Money. [Ger.: Geld; Du.: Geld.]

English Synonyms.—Add to those under Actual:—Charms; checks; cole or coal; coliander seeds; corn in Egypt; crap; darby; dots; ducats; gingerbread; kelter; lowie; lurries; moss; oil of palms; palm-oil; peck; plums; rhino; rivets; salt; sawdust; scad; screen; scuds; shigs; soap; spoon; steven; sugar; tea-spoons; tinie.

French Synonyms.—Le galtos (popular); l’odeur de gousset (obsolete); l’onguent (= palm grease, Sp., unguento; the simile is common to most languages); le morlingue (thieves’); la menouille (popular); le michon (thieves’: from miche, a loaf, cf., Loaver); les monacos (popular); le monarque (prostitutes’: primarily a five franc piece); le blé (= corn or loaver); les étoffes (thieves’).

Spanish Synonyms.—La lana (= wool); la morusa (colloquial); la mosca (= the flies); lo numerario; la pelusa (= down); lo zurraco (colloquial); lo unguento de Mejico (= Mexican Grease); a’ toca teja (colloquial: ready money); caire.

Italian Synonyms.—Cucchi; cuchieri; cucchielli; lugani.

German Synonyms.—Fuchs (= fox: an allusion to the ruddy hue of gold pieces); fuxig or fuxern = golden, red; fuchsmelochener (= goldsmith); gips or gyps (Viennese thieves’, from the Latin, gypsum); hora (= ready-money: from the Hebrew heren); kall (Han: especially small change: from Heb. kal = lowly light); kis, kies, kiss (applied both to money in general and the receptacle or purse in which it is carried); lowe, love (Han.); mepaie (from the Fr., payer) mesumme, linke mesumme (= counterfeit money); moos (from Heb., mëo = a little stone); pich, picht, or pech; staub (= dust).

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., Act ii. Chorus. These corrupted men ... have for the gilt of France (O guilt, indeed) Confirmed conspiracy.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 9. And from thence conducted (provided he has gilt) over the way to Hell.

1885. Daily News, 25 May, p. 3, c. 1. Disputatious like mobs grouped together to discuss whether Charrington or Crowder had the most gilt.

2. subs. (old).—A thief; a pick-lock; also gilt- or rum-dubber, gilter, etc.

1669. Nicker Nicked in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 108 (given in list of names of thieves).

1673. Character of a Quack Astrologer. For that purpose he maintains as strict a correspondence with gilts and lifters.

1676. Warning for Housekeepers, p. 3. The gilter is one that hath all sorts of picklocks and false keys.

1680. Cotton, Complete Gamester, p. 333. Shoals of muffs, hectors, setters, gilts, pads, biters, etc. ... may all pass under the general appellation of snobs.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1882. McCabe, New York, ch. xxxiv., 509. Gilt-dubber, a hotel thief.

3. (thieves’).—Formerly a pick-lock or skeleton key; now a crow-bar. For synonyms, see Jemmy.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. 1, ch. v., p. 50 (1874). Gilt, a pick-lock.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Gilt, c. a pick-lock.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 183 (ed. 1840). We shall have the whole village upon us while you’re striking the jigger. Use the gilt, man!

To take the gilt off the gingerbread, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To destroy an illusion; to discount heavily.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 171. You see we had a rattling good year all round last, bar the Dancing Master. He took the gilt off the gingerbread considerably.

Gilt-dubber, see gilt, sense 2.

Gilt-edged, adj. (American).—First-class; the best of its kind; a latter-day superlative. For synonyms, see A1 and Fizzing.

c. 1889. Chicago Tribune (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). He’s a gilt-edged idiot to play the game.

1891. Standard, 18 June, p. 2, c. 1. ‘Gilt-edged mutton’ is the latest of glorified and ‘boomed’ American products.

1891. Tit Bits, 8 Aug., p. 286, c. 2. Another accomplishment, peculiar to the gilt-edged academy, is learning to eat asparagus, oranges, grapes, etc.

Gilter, see gilt, sense 2.

Gilt-tick, subs. (costermongers’). Gold.

Gimbal- (or gimber-) Jawed, adj. (common).—Loquacious; talking nineteen to the dozen (q.v.). [Gimbals are a combination of rings for free suspension; hence applied to persons the joints of whose jaws are loose in speech.]

Gimcrack (Gincrack, or Jimcrack), subs. (old).—1. A showy simpleton, male or female; a dandy (q.v.).

1618. Beaumont and Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iv., 3. These are fine gimcracks; hey, here comes another, a flagon full of wine in his hand.

1637. Fletcher, Elder Brother, iii., 3. You are a handsome and a sweet young lady, And ought to have a handsome man yoked to ye. An understanding too; this is a gimcrack That can get nothing but new fashions on you.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Gimcrack, a spruce wench.

1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset Table, II., Works (1872), i., 122. The philosophical gimcrack.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (colloquial).—A showy trifle; anything pretty to look at but of very little worth.

1632. Chapman and Shirley, The Ball, Act iv. Lu. There remains, To take away one sample. Wi. Another gimcrack?

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. 3, ch. i. Rifled all his pokes and fobs. Cf., gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs.

1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. 7, p. 148. I suppose there being little else to lose except scenes, machines, or some such jim-cracks.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. i. There was the harp of Brian Boru, and the sword of some one else, and other cheap old gimcracks with their corollary of lies.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 63. Such rum-looking gimcracks, my pippin.

3. (provincial).—A handy man; a jack-of-all-trades (q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A gimcrack also means a person who has a turn for mechanical contrivances.

4. (venery).—The female pudendum. [A play on sense 2, and crack, (q.v.).] For synonym, see Monosyllable.

Adj. (colloquial).—Trivial; showy; worthless.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. ix. No shops so beautiful to look at as the Brighton gimcrack shops, and the fruit shops, and the market.

1891. W. C. Russell, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 30. Soberly clothed with nothing more gimcrack in the way of finery upon him than a row of waistcoat-buttons.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 425 c. 2. A large cabinet or wardrobe, beautifully carved, and very substantial, no gimcrack work.

Gimcrackery, subs. (colloquial).—The world of gimcrack (q.v.).

1884. A. Forbes, in Eng. Illustr. Mag., Jan., p. 230. The inner life of the Empire was a strange mixture of rottenness and gimcrackery.

Gimlet-eye, subs. (common).—A squint-eye; a piercer (q.v.). Fr.: des yeux en trou de pine.

Gimlet-eyed, adj. (common).—Squinting, or squinny-eyed; cock-eyed. As in the old rhyme: ‘Gimlet eye, sausage nose, Hip awry, bandy toes.’

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gimmer, subs. (Scots’).—An old woman. A variant of ‘cummer.’

Gin, subs. (Australian).—An Australian native woman.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. xiii. An Australian settler’s wife bestows on some poor slaving gin a cast-off French bonnet.

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up!, p. 30.

2. (Australian).—An old woman. For synonyms, see Geezer.

Gin-and-gospel Gazette, subs. phr. (journalists’).—The Morning Advertiser: as the organ of the Licensed Victualling and Church of England party. Also the Tap-tub and beer-and-bible gazette.

Gin-and-Tidy, adv. phr. (American).—Decked out in ‘best bib and tucker.’ A pun on ‘neat spirits.’

Gin-crawl, subs. (common).—A tipple (q.v.) on gin.

1892. A. Chevalier, ‘The Little Nipper.’ I used to do a gin crawl ev’ry night, An’ very, very often come ’ome tight.

Gingambobs (or Jiggumbobs), subs. (common).—1. Toys; baubles.

1690. B. E. Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (venery).—The testicles; also thingambobs. For synonyms, see Cods.

Ginger, subs. (common).—1. A fast, showy horse; a beast that looks figged (q.v.).

1859. Notes and Queries, 17 Dec. p. 493. A ginger is a showy fast horse.

2. (common).—A red-haired person; carrots (q.v.). [Whence the phrase (venery) ‘Black for beauty, ginger for pluck.’]

1885. Miss Tennant in Eng. Illustrated Magazine, June, p. 605. The policemen are well known to the boys, and appropriately named by them. There is ‘Jumbo,’ too stout to run; ginger, the red-haired.

3. (common).—Spirit; dash; go (q.v.). To want ginger = to lack energy and pluck (q.v.).

1888. The World, 13 May. You will remark that your spinal column is requiring a hinge, and that considerable ginger is departing from your resolution to bear up and enjoy yourself.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 124. If father objects send him to me, I’ll take the ginger out of him in short order.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker; p. 207. Give her ginger, boys.

Adj. (common).—Red-haired; foxy (q.v.); judas-haired (q.v.). Also ginger-pated, ginger-hackled, and gingery.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Red-haired; a term borrowed from the cock-pit, where red cocks are called gingers.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ch. xii. Somebody may be on the watch—perhaps that old ginger-hackled Jew.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix., p. 160. The very learned gentleman who has cooled the natural heat of his gingery complexion in pools and fountains of law, until he has become great in knotty arguments for term-time.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. iv. The landlady was a lean-looking widow, with a false front of gingery curls.

Gingerbread, subs. (old).—1. Money: e.g., ‘He has the gingerbread’ = he is rich.

1690. B. E. Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Your old dad had the gingerbread.

1864. Standard, 13 Dec. We do not find ... the word gingerbread used for money, as we have heard it both before and within the last six months. The origin of the use of the word may probably be the old fairy legends wherein the coin obtained over night from the elves was usually found in the morning to have turned into little gingerbread cakes.

2. (colloquial).—Brummagem (q.v.); showy, but worthless ware.

Adj. (colloquial).—Showy but worthless; tinsel. Fr., en pain d’épice. Gingerbread work (nautical) = carved and gilded decorations; gingerbread quarters (nautical) = luxurious living.

1757. Smollett, Compendium of Voyages and Travels. The rooms are too small and too much decorated with carving and gilding, which is a kind of gingerbread work.

To take the gilt off the gingerbread. See gilt.

Gingerly, adj. and adv. (old: now recognised).—As adj., delicate; fastidious; dainty; as adv., with great care; softly.

1533. Udal, Floures for Latine Spekynge. We stayghe and prolonge our goyng, with a nyce or tendre and softe, delicate, or gingerly pace.

c. 1563. Jacke Jugeler, p. 40 (ed. Grosart). We used to call her at home Dame Coye, a pretie gingerlie pice [piece].

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in Wks., ii., 32. That lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeared, and sits it as gingerly as if she were dancing the Canaries.

1611. Chapman, May-Day, Act iii., p. 294 (Plays, 1874). Come, come, gingerly; for God’s sake, gingerly.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, q.v.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Gently, softly, easily.

1759–67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. V., ch. v. My mother was going very gingerly in the dark.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To go gingerly to work, i.e., to attempt a thing gently, or cautiously.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S. 12, p. 207. The Squire went in gingerly, as if he had been treading on a spiked ploughshare.

Ginger-pop, subs. (colloquial).—1. Ginger-beer.

2. (rhyming).—A policeman; a slop (q.v.).

1887. Dagonet, Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. Ere her bull-dog I could stop, She had called a ginger-pop.

Ginger-snap, subs. (American).—A hot-tempered person, especially one with carrotty hair.

Gingham, subs. (common).—An umbrella; specifically one of this material. For synonyms, see Mushroom.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, Bk. I., ch. vii. Mr. Peters therefore took immediate possession by planting his honest gingham in a corner of the room.

1889. Sportsman, 2 Feb. It would really put a premium on the many little mistakes of ownership concerning ginghams at present so common.

Gingle-boy, subs. (old).—A coin; latterly a gold piece. Also Gingler. See Actual and Canary.

1622. Massinger and Dekker, Virgin Martyr, ii., 2. The sign of the gingleboys hangs at the door of our pockets.

Gingumbobs. See Gingambobs.

Ginicomtwig, verb. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, Scuotere il pellicione. To ginicomtwig or occupie a woman.

Gin-lane (or Trap), subs. (common).—1. The throat. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley. Gin-trap, also = the mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, p. 67. Never again could ... he feel his ivories loose within his gin-trap.

2. (common).—Generic for the habit of drunkenness.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Let me advise you on no account to fly to strong waters for consolation, Joan. One nail drives out another, it’s true; but the worst nail you can employ is a coffin nail. Gin Lane’s the nearest road to the churchyard.

Gin-mill, subs. (American).—A drinking saloon. For synonyms, see Lush-crib.

1872. Belgravia, Dec. ‘A Presidential Election.’ Then goes off to rejoin his comrades, to adjourn to the nearest gin-mill.

Ginnified, subs. (common).—Dazed, or stupid, with liquor.

Ginnums, subs. (common).—An old woman: especially one fond of drink.

Ginny, subs. (old).—A housebreaker’s tool; see quot., 1754.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1754. Scoundrels’ Dict. An instrument to lift up a grate or grating, to steal what is in the window. ‘The ninth is a ginny, to lift up the grate, If he sees but the Lurry, with his Hooks he will bait.’

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gin-penny, subs. (costermongers’).—Extra profit, generally spent in drink.

Gin-slinger, subs. (common).—A gin-drinker. For synonyms, see Lushington.

Gin-spinner, subs. (old).—A distiller; a dealer in spirituous liquors. Cf., Ale-spinner.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, p. 179. Just as she was about to toddle to the gin-spinner’s for the ould folk and lisp out for a quartern of Max.

1888. F. Green, in Notes and Queries, 7 S., vi., 153. I have always understood that a gin spinner is a distiller who makes gin, but could never find out why so called.

Gin-twist, subs. (common).—A drink composed of gin and sugar, with lemon and water.

1841. Comic Almanac, p. 271 What, for instance, but gin-twist could have brought Oliver Twist to light?

Gin Up, verb. (American).—To work hard; to make things lively or hum (q.v.). For synonyms, see Wire in.

1887. Francis, Saddle and Moccassin. They were ginning her up, that’s a fact.

Gip, subs. (American thieves’).—1. A thief. 2. Also (Cambridge University) a college servant. See Gyp. For synonyms, see Thieves.

Girl, subs. (common).—1. A prostitute; in. pl. = the stock in trade of a brothel. See Barrack Hack, Tart, and Gay. Fr., fille.

2. (colloquial).—A mistress; a mash (q.v.).

3. In. pl. (venery).—The sex—or that part of it which is given to unchastity—in general; hence the girls = lechery.

After the girls. He’s been after the girls, verb. phr. (common).—Said of one with clap or pox.

Girl and Boy, subs. phr. (rhyming). A saveloy.

Girlery, subs. (colloquial).—A brothel. Also a theatre for burlesque and comic opera.

Girl-getter, subs. (colloquial).—A mincing, womanish male.

Girling. To go Girling, verb. phr. (venery).—To quest for women; to go on the loose (q.v.).

Girlometer, subs. (venery).—The penis. Also, Girl-catcher. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Girl-shop, subs. phr. (common).—A brothel.

Girl-show, subs. phr. (common).—A ballet, a burlesque, a leg-piece (q.v.).

Girl Street. In Hair Court, Girl Street, subs. phr. (common).—Generic for fornication. Also the female pudendum.

Girl-trap, subs. phr. (common).—A seducer; a mutton-monger (q.v.).

Git! (or You Git!), intj. (American).—Be off with you! An injunction to immediate departure; walker! (q.v.). Sometimes a contraction of get out! Also get out and dust!

1851. Seaworthy, Bertie, p. 78. Thrue as the tin commandhers! Git aout!

To have no git up and git, phr. (American).—To be weak, vain, mean, or slow—generally deprecatory.

Give, verb. (vulgar).—1. To lead to; to conduct; to open upon: e.g., ‘The door gave upon the street.’ Cf. the idiomatic use, in French, of donner.

2. (American).—An all-round auxiliary to active verbs: e.g., to give on praying = to excel at prayer; to give on the make = to be clever at making money, etc.

To give it to, verb. phr. (old).—1. To rob; to defraud.—Grose.

2. (common).—To scold; to thrash. Also to give what for; to give it hot; to give something for oneself; to give one in the eye, etc. Fr., aller en donner. For synonyms, see Wig and Tan respectively.

1612. Chapman, Widow’s Tears, Act i., p. 312 (Plays, 1874). This braving wooer hath the success expected; the favour I obtained made me witness to the sport, and let his confidence be sure, I’ll give it him home.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 134. ‘Take that,’ exclaimed Mr. Samuel Wilkins.... ‘Give it him,’ said the waistcoat.... Miss J’mima Ivins’s beau and the friend’s young man lay gasping on the gravel, and the waistcoat and whiskers were seen no more.

1889. J. M. Barrie in Time, Aug. p. 148. When he said he would tell everybody in the street about there being a baby, I gave him one in the eye. Ibid. If it’s true what Symons Tertius says, that Cocky has gone and stolen my reminiscences about Albert’s curls, putting it into his reminiscences like as if it was his own, I’ll give him it hot.

To give in (or out), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To admit defeat; to yield; to be exhausted; to throw up the sponge. See Floored and Cave in.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xviii. Strap, after having received three falls on the hard stones, gave out, and allowed the blacksmith to be the better man.

1760–1. Smollett, L. Greaves, vol. II., ch. viii. By this time the doctor had given out, and allowed the brewer to be the better man.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 25. Poor Georgy gave in.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, bk. IV., ch. ix. Your time is up ... you have had your swing, and a long one it seems to have been—you must now give in.

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 99. Jest about then both on our pusses gin out.

1850. Buffum, Six Months in the Gold Mines, p. 73. After working three days with the machine, the earth we had been washing began to give out.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxiv., p. 217. I am surprised to hear a man of your energy talk of giving in.

To give away, verb. phr. (American).—To betray or expose inadvertently; to blow upon (q.v.): to peach (q.v. for synonyms). Also to give dead away. Largely used in combination: e.g., give-away = an exposure; give-away cue = an underhand revelation of secrets.

1883. F. M. Crawford, Doctor Claudius, ch. vi., p. 100. It always amused him to see sanguine people angry. They looked so uncomfortable, and gave themselves away so recklessly.

1886. A. Lang, Longman’s Mag., VII., 321. I know not whether the American phrase, to give a person away, to give yourself away, meaning to reveal your own or another’s secret, is of provincial English origin. Did it cross over with the Pilgrim Fathers in the May Flower, or is it a recent bit of slang? ‘Who giveth this woman away?’ asked the rural American parson in the wedding service. ‘I could,’ came the voice of a young man from the gallery, ‘but I’d never be so mean.’

1888. Detroit Free Press, Aug. Careful what we say, for it will give us dead away.

1889. Answers, 20 Apr., p. 326. My closely cropped hair, however, gave me away.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 195. For the sake of the joke I’ll give myself away.

To give one best, verb. phr. (schoolboys’).—1. To acknowledge one’s inferiority, a defeat. Also (thieves’) to leave, to cut (q.v.).

1887. Horsley, Jottings from Jail. But after a time I gave him best (left him), because he used to want to bite my ear (borrow) too often.

To give the collar, verb. phr. (American).—To seize; to arrest; to collar (q.v.). For synonyms, see Nab.

To give the bullet (sack, bag, kick-out, pike, road, etc.), verb. phr. (common).—To discharge from an employ.

Give us a rest! phr. (American).—Cease talking! An injunction upon a bore.

To give nature a fillip, verb. phr. (old).—To indulge in wine or women.—B. E. (1690).

To give way, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To permit the sexual embrace: by women only.

1870. Weekly Times, 1 May. She was sorry to say, she gave way to him. (Laughter.) Mr. Maude remarked she was a foolish woman, and, being a widow, ought to have known what giving way would come to.—Complainant said of course she did, but she thought he meant to marry her.

[Other combinations will be found under the following: auctioneer; back cap; bag; bail; baste; beans; beef; biff; black eye; bone; bucket; bullet; bull’s feather; clinch; double; fig; gas; go by; gravy; hoist; hot beef; jesse; kennedy; key of the street; land; leg up; lip; miller; mitten; mouth; needle; office; points; pussy; rub of the thumb; sack; sky-high; slip; tail; taste of cream; turnips; weight; white alley; word.]

Giver, subs. (pugilistic).—A good boxer; an artist in punishment (q.v.).

1824. Reynolds, (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, p. 73. She knew a smart blow from a handsome giver Would darken lights.

Gixie, subs. (obsolete).—A wanton wench; a strumpet; an affected mincing woman.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Faina, a mincing, coie, nice, puling, squeamish woman, an idle huswife, a flurt, a gixgi. Also as Foina [i.e., ‘a pole-cat’; while Foirare = ‘to lust for beastly leacherie, to be salt as a bitch.’]

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Gadrouillette, a minx, gigle, flirt, callet gixie: (a fained word applyable to any such cattell). [See further, gadriller (a wench) = ‘to rump or play the rig’].

Gizzard, to fret one’s gizzard, verb. phr. (common).—To worry oneself. See Fret.

To stick in one’s gizzard, verb. phr. (common).—To remain as something unpleasant, distasteful or offensive; to be hard of digestion; to be disagreeable or unpalatable.

c. 1830. Finish of Tom and Jerry, p. 241. It had always stuck in his gizzard to think as how he had been werry cruelly used.

To grumble in the gizzard, verb. phr. (common).—To be secretly displeased. Hence, grumble-gizzard (q.v.).

Gladstone, subs. (common)—1. Cheap claret. [Mr. Gladstone, when in office in 1869, reduced the duty on French wines.] See Drinks.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. ix. Claret certainly good, too—none of your Gladstone tap; sherry probably rather coarse.

1885. A. Birrell, Obiter Dicta, p. 86. To make him unbosom himself over a bottle of Gladstone claret in a tavern in Leicester Square.

2. (colloquial).—A travelling bag. [So named in honour of Mr. Gladstone.]

Gladstonize, verb. (colloquial).—To talk about and round; to evade or prevaricate; to speak much and mean nothing.

Glanthorne, subs. (old).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1789. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 42. Drop the glanthorne = part with money.

Glasgow Greys, subs. phr. (military).—The 70th Foot. [Which in the beginning was largely recruited in Glasgow.]

1886. Tinsley’s Mag., Apr., p. 321. The 70th were long known as the Glasgow Greys.

Glasgow Magistrate, subs. phr. (common).—A herring, fresh or salted, of the finest. [From the practice of sending samples to the Baillie of the River for approval.] Also Glasgow Baillie.

1855. Strang, Glasgow and its City Clubs. This club ... better known by the title of the Tinkler’s club, particularly when the brotherhood changed the hour of meeting ... and when the steak was exchanged for a ‘Welsh rabbit’ or Glasgow magistrate.

English Synonyms. (for herrings generally).—Atlantic ranger; Californian; Cornish duck; Digby chicken; Dunbar wether; gendarme; Gourock ham; magistrate; pheasant (or Billingsgate pheasant); reds; sea-rover; soldier; Taunton turkey; two-eye’d steak; Yarmouth capon. Fr.: gendarme.

Glass, subs. (American thieves’).—An hour. [An abbreviation of ‘hour-glass.’]

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. The badger piped his Moll about a glass and a half before she cribbed the flat.

There’s a deal of glass about, phr. (common).—1. Applied to vulgar display = ‘It’s the thing’ (q.v.).

2. (common).—Said in answer to an achievement in assertion. A memory of the proverb, ‘People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.’

Who’s to pay for the broken glass? verb. phr. (colloquial).—See Stand the Racket.

Been looking through a glass, adv. phr. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Glass-eyes, subs. (old).—A man wearing spectacles; four-eyes (q.v.); gig-lamps (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Glass-house. To live in a glass house, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To lay oneself open to attack or adverse criticism.

Glass-work, subs. (card-sharpers’).—An obsolete method of cheating at cards. A convex mirror the size of a small coin was fastened with shellac to the lower corner of the left palm opposite the thumb, enabling the dealer to ascertain by reflection the value of the cards he dealt.

Glaze, subs. (old),—A window.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Glaze, a Window.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. Undub the Jeger and jump the glaze.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3rd ed.), p. 445. A window, glaze.

c. 1830. Finish to Tom and Jerry [1872], p. 82. A random shot milling the glaze.

Verb (old).—To cheat at cards. See quot. and Glass-work.

1821. P. Egan, Real Life, I., 297. If you take the broads in hand in their company, you are sure to be work’d, either by glazing, that is, putting you in front of a looking glass, by which means your hand is discovered by your antagonist, or by private signals from the pal.

To mill (or star a glaze), verb. phr. (old).—To break a window.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, iii., 2. Jerry. What are you about, Tom? Tom. I’m going to mill the glaze—I’ll——(Is about to break the glass, when Kate and Sue appear as the Miss Trifles.).

1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf. Glaze, s.v., to mill the glaze, the miller may adopt a stick or otherwise, as seems most convenient.

On the glaze, adv. phr. (thieves’).—Robbing jewellers’ shops by smashing the windows. See Glazier.

1724–34. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, q.v.

1889. Ally Sloper, 4 May. Getting a reprieve he went to Dublin on the glaze.

Glazier, subs., in. pl. (old).—1. The eyes. For synonyms, see Glims. Fr.: les ardents.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 64. Glasyers, eyes.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). Glasiers, eyes.

1611. Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v., 1. These glasiers of mine, mine eyes.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. You’re out with your glaziers.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. The cove has rum glaziers, c. that Rogue has excellent Eyes, or an Eye like a Cat.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Glaziers, c. eyes.

1725. New Canting Dict. ‘Song.’ Her glaziers, too, are quite benighted.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue s.v.

2. (old).—A window thief. Cf., Glaze.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Song ‘The Twenty Craftsmen.’... A glazier who when he creeps in, To pinch all the lurry he thinks it no sin.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gleaner, subs. (old).—A thief. Cf., Hooker, Angler, etc. For synonyms, see Thieves.

Glib, subs. (common).—1. The tongue. Slacken your glib = loose your tongue. For synonyms, see Clack.

2. (old).—A ribbon.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 42. A lobb full of glibbs, a box full of ribbons.

Adj. (old, now recognised).—Smooth; slippery; voluble; glib-tongued or glib-gabbit (cf., Gab) = talkative; ready of speech.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, Act i., Sc. 1. I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Smooth, without a Rub. Glib-tongued. Voluble or Nimble-tongued.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 31 Jan. The rest who were so glib with their promises.

Glibe, subs. (American thieves’).—Writing; specifically, a written statement.

Glim (or Glym), subs. (old).—1. A candle, or dark lanthorn; a fire or light of any kind. To douse the glim = to put out the light. Fr.: estourbir la cabande. Also short for Glimmer or Glymmar (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. A Dark Lanthorn used in Robbing Houses; also to burn in the Hand.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Glim, a Candle.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict. Glim, s.v. A candle or light.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Bring bess and glym; i.e., bring the instrument to force the door, and the dark lanthorn.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 2. Tom. Then catch—here’s the gentlemen’s tooth-picker, and here’s his glim. (Throws stick and lanthorn to Jerry.)

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. 5. Every star its glim at hiding.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. 16. Let’s have a glim ... or we shall go breaking our necks.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, Bk. I., ch. 10. ‘Hush, Jack!’ whispered one; ‘hang out the glim and let’s look about us.’

1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, ch. iv. Old Jack bade Harriet trim the glim.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island, p. 89. Sure enough, they left their glim here.

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, ii., 6. Now here is my little glim; it aint for me because I’m blind.

2. (old).—A sham account of a fire as sold by flying stationers (q.v.).

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 233. His papers certify any and every ‘ill that flesh is heir to’.... Loss by fire is a glim.

3. in. pl. (common).—The eyes.

English Synonyms.—Blinkers; daylights; deadlights; glaziers; lights; lamps; ogles; optics; orbs; peepers; sees; squinters; toplights; windows; winkers.

French Synonyms.—Les quinquets (popular = bright eyes, Vidocq); les mirettes (popular and thieves’; Italian: mira = sight); les reluits (thieves’: also daymans—or lightmans [q.v.]); les calots (thieves’ = marbles); les châsses or les châssis (popular = hunters’); les lampions (thieves’ = lamps (q.v.); Italian: lanterna and lampante); les apics (thieves’); les ardents (thieves’ = piercers); les œillets (popular = eyelets); les lanternes de cabriolet (popular = giglamps); les clignots (popular = winkers); les carreaux (thieves’ = windows); les clairs (thieves’ = shiners); les coquards (thieves’).

Italian Synonyms.—Lanterna (= a lamp); calchi; balchi; brunotti (= brownies); lampante.

Spanish Synonyms.—Fanal (= lantern); lanterna (= idem); visantes (vulgar); vistosos (vulgar).

German Synonyms.—Dierling (from stieren = to stare); Linzer; Scheinling (from Schein = daylights (q.v.)).

1824. P. Egan, Boxiana, iv., 417. His glims I’ve made look like a couple of rainbows.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 47 [ed. 1854]. Queer my glims, if that ben’t little Paul!

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II., 339. Harold escaped with the loss of a glim.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 56. A pooty gal, gentle, or simple, as carn’t use her glims is a flat.

4. in. pl. (common).—A pair of spectacles. For synonyms, see Barnacles.

5. (common).—Gonorrhœa or clap (q.v.). [From sense 1 = fire.]

Verb (old).—To brand or burn in the hand.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. As the cull was Glimm’d, he gangs to the Nubb, c., if the Fellow has been Burnt in the Hand, he’ll be Hang’d now.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, p. 15. Profligate women are glimm’d for that villany, for which, rather than leave it, they could freely die martyrs.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To puff the glims, verb. phr. (veterinary).—To fill the hollow over the eyes of old horses by pricking the skin and blowing air into the loose tissues underneath, thus giving the full effect of youth.

Glim-fenders, subs. (old).—1. Andirons, or fire-dogs.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimfenders, c. Andirons. Rum Glimfenders, Silver Andirons.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict. s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (old).—Handcuffs. [A pun on sense 1.]

1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Glimflashly (or Glim-flashey), adj. (old).—Angry. See Nab the Rust and Hair.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimflashly, c., Angry, or in a Passion. The Cull is Glimflashly, c. the Fellow is in a Heat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxxi. No, Captain, don’t be glim-flashey! You have not heard all yet.

Glim-jack, subs. (old).—A link boy; a moon-curser (q.v.); but, in any sense, a thief.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glim-lurk, subs. (tramps’).—A beggars’ petition, based on a fictitious fire or glim (sense 2).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 233. The patterer becomes a ‘lurker,’—that is, an imposter; his papers certify any and every ‘ill that flesh is heir to.’ Shipwreck is called a shake-lurk; loss by fire is a glim.

Glimmer (or Glymmar), subs. (old).—Fire. See quot.

1567. Harman, Caveat. These Demaunders for Glymmar be for the moste parte wemen.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38. (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). Glymmer, Fire.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874). Glymmer, Fire.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1725. New Canting Dict., Song, ‘The Maunder’s Praise of his Strowling Mort.’ Doxy, Oh! thy Glaziers shine, As Glymmar by the Solomon.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glimmerer, subs. (old).—A beggar working with a petition giving out that he is ruined by fire. Also glimmering mort = a female glimmerer.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimmerer, c., the Twenty-second Rank of the Canting Tribe, begging with Sham Licences, pretending to Losses by Fire, etc.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glimstick, subs. (old).—A candlestick. [From glim = a light + stick.] Fr.: une occasion.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimstick, c., a Candlestick. Rum Glimsticks, c., Silver Candlesticks. Queer Glimsticks, c., Brass, Pewter, or Iron Candlesticks.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glister, subs. phr. (thieves’).—See quot., glister of fish-hooks.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321. A glass of Irish whiskey ... a glister of fish-hooks.

Glistner, subs. (old).—A sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary.

Gloak (or Gloach), subs. (old).—A man. For synonyms, see Chum and Cove.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, pp. 48 and 172. Gloach, a man; cove.

Globe, subs. (old).—1. A pewter pot; pewter.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

2. in. pl. (common).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Globe-rangers, subs. (nautical).—The Royal Marines.

Globe-trotter, subs. (colloquial).—A traveller; primarily one who races from place to place, with the object of covering ground or making a record. Fr.: un pacquelineur.

1886. Graphic, 7 Aug., 147/1. Your mere idle gaping globetrotter will spin endless pages of unobservant twaddle, and will record his tedious wanderings with most painful minuteness.

1888. Academy, 17 Mar. The inevitable steamboat, the world, and the omnivorous globe-trotter.

1889. Echo, 9 Feb. The British globe-trotter knows Japan as he knows England, and English books about Japan are turned out by the ton.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 27 Jan., p. 5, c. 2. This popular definition of a quick-mover has now become effete. Miss Bly is a globe-galloper or she is nothing.

Globe-trotting, subs. (colloquial).—Travelling after the manner of globe-trotters (q.v.).

1888. Academy, 22 Sept. In fact, globe-trotting, as the Americans somewhat irreverently term it, is now frequently undertaken as a mere holiday trip.

Glope, verb. (Winchester College).—To spit. (Obsolete).

Glorious, adj. (common).—Excited with drink; ‘in one’s altitudes’; boozed. For synonyms, see drinks and screwed.

1791. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter. Kings may be blessed, but Tam was glorious, O’er a’ the ills of life victorious.

1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. xviii., p. 252. I knew nothing of the vow, or indeed of the tipsy frolic which was the occasion of it; I was taken up glorious, as the phrase is, by my servants, and put to bed.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Feb. But as they all began to get glorious, personalities became more frequent and very much stronger.

Glorious Sinner, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A dinner.

Glory, subs. (common).—The after life; kingdom come (q.v.). Usually, the coming glory.

1841. Punch, 17 July, p. 2. Clara pines in secret—Hops the twig, and goes to glory in white muslin.

In one’s glory, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In the full flush of vanity, pride, taste, notion, or idiosyncracy.

Gloves, to go for the gloves, verb. phr. (racing).—To bet recklessly; to bet against a horse without having the wherewithal to pay if one loses—the last resource of the plunging turfite. The term is derived from the well-known habit of ladies to bet in pairs of gloves, expecting to be paid if they win, but not to be called upon to pay if they lose.

1877. Hawley Smart, Play or Pay, ch. xi. One of the boldest plungers of the day, who had begun badly, was going for the gloves upon this match.

1886. Badminton Library, ‘Racing,’ p. 255. Hardly worth mentioning are the backers who come in for a hit-or-miss dash at the ring—to go for the gloves, as it is called in ring parlance.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. Although we frequently read in stories of the hero backing the right horse at a long price, and so getting out of sundry monetary difficulties, we rarely find the idea realised in practice. Many a bookmaker has gone for the gloves.

Glow, adj. (tailors’).—Ashamed.

Glue, subs. (common).—1. Thick soup. (Because it sticks to the ribs.)

English Synonyms.—Deferred stock; belly-gum; giblets-twist; gut-concrete; rib-tickler; stick-in-the-ribs.

French Synonyms.—La menêtre (thieves’); la lavasse (= a mess of pot liquor); la laffe (thieves’); la jaffe (popular); l’ordinaire (popular: soup and boiled beef at an ordinary); le fond d’estomac (= thick soup); la mousse; la mouillante (= the moistener).

German Synonyms.—Jauche; Polifke.

2. (common).—Gonorrhœa.

Glue-pot, subs. (common).—A parson. [Because he joins in wedlock.] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger and Sky-pilot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glum, adj. (old: now recognised).—Sullen; down in the mouth; stern. Fr.: faire son nez = to look glum; also, n’en pas mener large.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. vii. Nic. looked sour and glum, and would not open his mouth.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

17(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘Sam Hall, The parson he will come, And he’ll look so bloody glum.’

1816. Johnson, Dict. of the English Language. Glum, s.v., a low cant word formed by corrupting ‘gloom.’

1847. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ii., ch. vi. ‘I wonder whether Lady Southdown will go away; she looked very glum upon Mrs. Rawdon,’ the other said.

1888. Referee, 21 Oct. Who found him looking glum and gray, And thought his accent gruff and foreign.

1892. A. W. Pinero, The Times, v., i. What are you so glum about.

Glump, verb. (provincial).—To sulk. Hence glumpy, glumping, and glumpish = sullen or stubborn.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Glumping, sullen, or sour looking. Exm.

1835. Th. Hook, Gilbert Gurney. He was glumpy enough when I called.

1860. G. Eliot, Mill on the Floss, Bk. VI., ch. iv. ‘An’ it worrets me as Mr. Tom ’ull sit by himself so glumpish, a-knittin’ his brow, an’ a lookin’ at the fire of a night.’

Glutman, subs. (old).—See quot.

1797. Police of the Metropolis, p. 64. An inferior officer of the Customs, and particularly one of that class of supernumerary tide waiters, who are employed temporarily when there is a press or hurry of business. These glutmen are generally composed of persons who are without employment, and, being also without character, recommend themselves principally from the circumstance of being able to write.

Glutton, subs. (common).—1. A horse which lasts well; a stayer (q.v.).

2. (pugilists’).—A pugilist who can take a lot of punishment (q.v.).

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, xvi. Thus Theocritus, in his Milling Match, calls Amycus a glutton, which is well known to be the classical phrase at Moulsey-Hurst for one who, like Amycus, takes a deal of punishment before he is satisfied.

1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 6, c. 3. He was known to be an awfully heavy hitter with both hands, a perfect glutton at taking punishment.

Gnarler, subs. (thieves’).—A watch dog. For synonyms, see Tike.

Gnasp, verb. (old).—To vex. For synonyms, see Rile.

1728. Bailey, English Dict. s.v.

Gnoff.—See Gonnof.

Gnostic, subs. (colloquial).—A knowing one; a downy cove (q.v.); a whipster (q.v.). [From the Gr., gnosis = knowledge.]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 27. Many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Masque are still to be heard among the gnostics of Dyot Street and Tothill Fields.

adj. (colloquial).—Knowing, artful (q.v.).

Gnostically, adv. (colloquial).—Knowingly.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. iv. He was tog’d gnostically enough.

Go, subs. (common).—1. A drink; specifically a quartern of gin. (Formerly a go-down, but Cf., quot. 1811.)

[For other combinations see abroad—all fours—aloft—aunt—baby—back on—bad—bail—baldheaded—bath—batter—bedfordshire—beggar’s bush—better—blazes—blind—board—bodkin—bulge—bungay—bury—bust—by-by—call—camp—chump—college—cracked—dead broke—devil—ding—ding-dong—dock—doss—drag—flouch—flue—gamble—glaze—glory —gloves—grain—grass—ground—hairyfordshire—hall—halves—hang—hell—high fly—high toby—hooks—hoop—jericho—jump—kitchen—man—majority—mill—murphy—pace—pieces—pile—pot—queen—raker—range—rope-walk—salt river—shallow—shop—slow—smash—snacks—snooks—spout—star-gazing—sweet violets—top—walker’s bus—west—whole animal—woodbine—woolgathering—wrong.]

English Synonyms.—Bender; caulker; coffin nail; common-sewer; cooler; crack; cry; damp; dandy; dash; dew-hank; dewdrop; dodger; drain; dram; facer; falsh; gargle; gasp; go-down; hair of the dog, etc.; Johnny; lip; liquor up; livener; lotion; lounce; modest quencher; muzzler; nail from one’s coffin; night-cap; nip or nipper; nobbler; old crow; a one, a two, or a three; out; peg; pick-me-up; pony; quencher; reviver; rince; sensation; settler; shift; shove in the mouth; slug; small cheque; smile; snifter; something damp; something short; swig; thimbleful; tiddly; top up; tot; warmer; waxer; wet; whitewash; yard.

French Synonyms.—Un bourgeron (popular = a nip of brandy); un asticot de cercueil (= a coffin-worm, a play on verre and bière); un coup d’arrosoir (popular: a touch of the watering pot); un gargarisme (popular: = a gargle [q.v.]); un galopin (= a pony [q.v.] of beer); un larme (= a tear); un mistiche (thieves’); un misérable (popular: a glass of spirits costing one sou; une demoiselle = two sous; un monsieur = four sous; un poisson = five sous); un mince de chic (popular: in contempt); une coquille de noix (popular = a thimbleful; a very small go; a drain); un jeune homme (familiar = in capacity four litres); un Kolback (popular = a small glass of brandy, or large glass of wine); une flûte (familiar); un extravagant (popular = a long drink); un fil (= a drain); un distingué (popular); une douleur (popular = a comforter or pick-me-up); un ballon (popular).

Italian Synonym.—Schioppa (= a long drink: also a large beer glass).

Spanish Synonyms.—Chisguete (colloquial); enjuagadientes (also = a mouthful of water or wine for rinsing the mouth after eating); espolada (= a long drink).

Portuguese Synonym.—Quebrado (= broken: a small glass).

1690. D’Urfey, Collin’s Walk, canto 4. And many more whose quality Forbids their toping openly, Will privately, on good occasion, Take six go-downs on reputation.

1793. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Go-shop.... The Queen’s Head in Duke’s Court.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Go-shop, s.v. The Queen’s Head, in Duke’s Court, Bow Street, Covent Garden, frequented by the under players, where gin and water was sold in three-halfpenny bowls, called goes; the gin was called Arrack.

1823. Jon. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, The Streets: Night. Chops, kidneys, rabbits, oysters, stout, cigars, and goes innumerable, are served up amidst a noise and confusion of smoking, running, knife-clattering, and waiter-chattering, perfectly indescribable.

1841. Punch, Vol. I., p. 11, c. 1. Waiter, a go of Brett’s best alcohol.

1849. Thackeray, Hoggarty Diamond, ch. ii. Two more chairs, Mary, two more tumblers, two more hot waters, and two more goes of gin!

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 54. Drinking alternate goes of gin and water with a dustman for the purpose of insinuating myself into the affections of Miss Cinderella Smut, his interesting sister.

1853. Diogenes, Vol. II., p. 271. Shall I spend it in theatres? shows? In numerous alcohol goes?

1870. Figaro, 28 May. Their musical performances are evidently inspired by goes of gin.

1883. Echo, 7 Feb., p. 4, c. 3. Witness asked him what he had been drinking. He replied, ‘Two half-goes of rum hot and a half-pint of beer.’

2. (colloquial).—An incident; an occurrence: e.g., a rum go = a strange affair, or queer start; a pretty go = a startling business; a capital go = a pleasant business.

1803. Kenney, Raising the Wind, i., 3. Ha! ha! ha! Capital go, isn’t it?

1820. Jack Randall’s Diary. Gemmen (says he), you all well know The joy there is whene’er we meet; It’s what I call the primest go, And rightly named, ’tis—quite a treat.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 251. A considerable bustle and shuffling of feet was then heard upon the stage, accompanied by whispers of ‘Here’s a pretty go!—what’s to be done?’

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Misadventures at Margate.’ ‘O, Mrs. Jones,’ says I, ‘look here! Ain’t this a pretty go!’

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 162. Stating his conviction that this was rayther a rummy go.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxxiii. Master Frank Clavering ... had only time to ejaculate the words, ‘Here’s a jolly go!’ and to disappear sniggering.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xli. ‘I am about to try what a month or two’s absence will do for me.’ ‘And leave us to old Brown?—that will be a nice go!’

1876. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, ch. vii. A rum go as ever I saw.

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, pledge xvi. He ... exclaimed, ‘Well, I’m dashed if this isn’t a rum go!’

1883. R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island, p. 55. A pretty rum go if squire aint to talk for Doctor Livesey.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 305. ‘It was a near go,’ said Jack.

3. (common).—The fashion; the cheese (q.v.); the correct thing. Generally in the phrase all the go.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. He is quite the go, he is quite varment, he is prime, he is bang up.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1891], p. 35. Tom was the go among the goes.

1835. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. Whatever is the go in Europe will soon be the cheese here.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I., 251. It was rather the go With Pilgrims and Saints in the Second Crusade.

1846. Punch, vol. X., p. 163. From lowly Queen’s quadrangle, Where muffins are the go.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Beauty and Beast). And all day long there’s a big crowd stops To look at the lady who’s all the go.

4. (colloquial).—Life; spirit; energy; enterprise; impetus: e.g., plenty of go = full of spirit and dash. Fr.: avoir du chien.

1825. The English Spy, i., 178. She’s only fit to carry a dean or a bishop. No go in her.

1865. Macdonald, Alec Forbes of How-glen, II., 269. All night Tibbie Dyster had lain awake in her lonely cottage, listening to the quiet heavy go of the water.

1882. Daily Telegraph, 9 Oct. Mr. Grossmith’s music is bright and tripping, full of humour and go, as, under such circumstances, music should be!

1883. Illustrated London News, 10 March, p. 242, c. 3. There was any amount of dash and go in their rowing.

1887. Paton, Down the Islands. Barbadian may therefore be said to mean a man with go and grit, energy and vim.

1889. Sportsman, 19 Jan. It all lent a certain zest and go to the proceedings.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 21 Feb., p. 7, c. 1. There was so much heartiness and go (so to speak) in the work that it reminded me of what I had read about peasant proprietors labouring in Switzerland and elsewhere under a Home Rule Government.

5. (colloquial).—A turn; an attempt; a chance. Cf., No go.

To have a go at, verb. phr. = to make essay of anything: as a man in a fight, a shot at billiards, and (specifically) a woman.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 377 (ed. 1857). Wot do you think o’ that for a go?

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. III., p. 221. I’ve twelve this go. I did a lagging of seven, and was at the Gib. three out of it.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. iii. ‘I would practise that in the seclusion of my own apartments,’ observed Pennicuick; ‘and after a few goes at it, I’ll bet a guinea I’d shake the right stick out first.’

1888. Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will, ch. x. You have had seven goes and I have only had six.

6. (American).—A success. To make a go of it = to bring things to a satisfactory termination.

1888. Harper’s Mag., vol. LXXVII., p. 689. Determination to make the venture a go.

7. (gaming). The last card at cribbage, or the last piece at dominoes. When a player is unable to follow the lead, he calls a go!

8. (old.)—A dandy (q.v. for synonyms); a very heavy swell indeed, one in the extreme of fashion.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [people’s ed.], p. 35. In the parks, Tom was the go among the goes.

Verb (American political).—1. To vote; to be in favour of. Cf., Go for.

2. (colloquial).—To succeed; to achieve. Cf., Go down.

1866. Public Opinion, 13 Jan., p. 51, c. 1. His London-street railway scheme didn’t go.

1870. H. D. Traill, ‘On the Watch.’ Sat. Songs, p. 22. Eh, waddyer say? Don’t it go? Ho, yes! my right honnerble friend. It’s go and go over the left, it’s go with a hook at the end.

3. (colloquial).—To wager; to risk. Hence to stand treat; to afford.

1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, Act iii. Men that would go forty guineas on a game of cribbage.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, Prologue ii. The very dice on the counter with which the bar-keeper used to go the miners for drinks.

1877. S. L. Clemens (M. Twain), Life on the Mississippi, ch. xliii., p. 390. There’s one thing in this world which a person won’t take in pine if he can go walnut; and won’t take in walnut if he can go mahogany.... That’s a coffin.

c. 1882. Comic Song, ‘The West End Boys,’ verse 3. Another bitter I really can’t go.

1887. World, 20 Apr., p. 8. While making up his mind, apparently whether he would go ‘three’ or ‘Nap.’

4. (racing).—To ride to hounds.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 219. There would be far too many there who had seen Gerald Rockingham go with the York and Ainstey not to at once know that he and Jim Forrest were identical.

5. (colloquial).—To be pregnant.

1561–1626. Bacon, (quoted by Dr. Johnson). Women go commonly nine months, the cow and ewe about six months.

1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., iv., 1. Great bellied women that had not half a week to go.

Go down, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To be accepted, received, or swallowed; to wash (q.v.).

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle-Light, in wks. (Grosart), III., 272. For the woorst hors-flesh (so it be cheape) does best goe downe with him.

1659. Massinger, City Madam, i., 1. But now I fear it will be spent in poultry; Butcher’s-meat will not go down.

1663. Pepys, Diary, 9 Nov. The present clergy will never heartily go down with the generality of the commons of England.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. II., ch. xvii. ‘O ho! you are a pretty traveller,’ cries the host, ‘and not know the Levant! ... you must not talk of these things with me, you must not tip us the traveller—it won’t go here.’

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxi. He ... shook his head, and beginning with his usual exclamation said, ‘That won’t go down with me.’

1885. W. E. Norris, Adrian Vidal, ch. vii. In fashion or out of fashion, they always pay and always go down with the public.

2. (University).—To be under discipline; to be rusticated.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, i., 179. How dare you say ‘deuce’ in my presence? You can go down, my Lord.

3. (common).—To become bankrupt. Also, to go under.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 19. Some one had certainly gone down.

To go due north, verb. phr. (obsolete).—To go bankrupt. [That is, to go to White-cross Street Prison, once situate in north London]. See Quisby.

To go on the dub, verb. phr. (old).—To go house-breaking; to pick locks. See Dub.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew. Going upon the dub, c. Breaking a House with picklocks.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

To go to the dogs, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To go to ruin. [Cf., the Dutch proverb ‘Toe goê, toe de dogs’ = money gone, credit gone too.] See Demnition bow-wows.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. i. The service, he said, would go to the dogs, and might do for anything he cared and he did not mind how soon.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, 1, 179. ‘Got a second!—bah! The University is going to the ‘——’ Deuce!’ suggested Lord Charles, who was afraid of something worse. ‘Dogs, Sir, dogs!’

c. 1879. Broadside Ballad, ‘Old Clo’.’ My line of business is played out, it’s going to the dogs.

To go off on the ear, verb. phr. (American).—To get angry; to fly into a tantrum. See Nab the rust.

To go for, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To attempt; to tackle; to resolve upon; to make for (q.v.).

1871. John Hay, Jim Bludso. He see’d his duty, a dead-sure thing—And he went for it thar and then.

1890. Athenæum, 22 Mar., p. 366, c. 1. The authors have spared neither their creatures nor the reader one iota; whenever an unpleasant effect was obtainable, they straightway seem to have gone for it with unflinching zest.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 221. Some men had gone for half a dozen, others for two or three, and very few for a single.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. We are strong, my boy, strong now, and are going in for the slugging of books also, as well as the immorality of trade.

2. (colloquial).—To attack with violence and directness, whether manually or with the tongue.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 2 Feb., ‘A curtain lecture.’ On ... arrival home the derelict husband is to be gone for in the most approved style of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle.

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xxxvii. There were occasions ... when Charley could hardly help going for the legs of that lofty philosopher, for higher he could not hit him.

1889. Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. He went for the jam tarts unmercifully.

1889. Star, 24 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. As the enlightened tailor still declined to pay the blackmail one of the anti-machinists went for him with a chopper.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 424, c. 1. So it comes to much the same thing, with the exception that you cannot indulge in the sad delight of going for Master Bertie sometimes as you might do were he a member of your own household.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 123. “Well mate, go for him, and we’ll keep the cops off till you settle his hash.”

3. (colloquial).—To support; to favour; to vote for.

4. (theatrical).—To criticise; specifically, to run down. [An extension of sense 2.] For synonyms, see Run down.

To go in for (or at), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To enter for; to apply oneself to (e.g., to go in for honours). Also to devote oneself to (e.g., to pay court); to take up (as a pastime, pursuit, hobby, or principle). Closely allied to go for.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 18 (ed. 1857). This advice was very like that which bystanders invariably give to the smallest boy in a street fight; namely, ‘Go in, and win’: an admirable thing to recommend, if you only know how to do it.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xviii., p. 162. Sometimes I go in at the butcher madly, and cut my knuckles open against his face.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iii., 3. Go in for money——Money’s the article.

1869. Whyte Melville, M. or N., p. 31. Long before he had reached his uncle’s house, he had made up his mind to go in, as he called it, for Miss Bruce, morally confident of winning, yet troubled with certain chilling misgivings, as fearing that this time he had really fallen in love.

1870. Agricultural Jour., Feb. Men who go in for bathing, running, etc.

1872. Besant and Rice, My Little Girl (in Once a Week, 14 Dec., p. 508). He had, after a laborious and meritorious career at Aberdeen, gone in for Scotch mission work in Constantinople.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xlv. His cheeks are flushed; he is laughing loudly, and going in heavily for the champagne.

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xx. This is very nice, but I do wonder, Mrs. Tidman, that you never go in for curries.

1890. H. D. Traill, ‘A Noble Watchword,’ Sat. Songs, p. 58. To go in solid for the cause how noble! (though, ’tis true, We must hope at next election that you’ll go in liquid, too).

To go in unto, verb. phr. (Biblical).—To have sexual intercourse with. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1892. Bible, Gen. xxx. 3. Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her.

To go it, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To act with vigour and daring; to advocate or speak strongly; to live freely. Also to go it blind, fast, bald-headed, strong, etc. Cf., Dash.

1689 (in Arber, Eng. Garner, vol. VII., p. 365). When these had shared her cargo, they parted company: the French with their shares went it for Petty Guavas in the Grand Gustaphus.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [people’s ed.], p. 67. Logic, under the domino, had been going it on a few of his friends with much humour.

Ibid., p. 22. To go it, where’s a place like London?

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (Ed. 1862), p. 375. For of this be assured, if you go it too fast, you’ll be ‘dished’ like Sir Guy.

1846–48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. I., ch. 26. ‘He’s going it pretty fast,’ said the clerk.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. 6. I say young Copperfield, you’re going it.

1841. Dow, Sermons, vol. I., p. 176. I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to some of the sons and daughters of the earth going it, while they are young, provided they don’t go it too strong.

1864. Fraser’s Mag., Aug., p. 54. But what if that O, brave heart? Art thou a labourer? Labour on, Art thou a poet? Go it strong.

1880. Milliken, in Punch’s Almanack Apr. Nobby togs, high jinks, and lots o’ lotion, That’s the style to go it, I’ve a notion.

Intj. (common).—Keep at it! Keep it up!—a general (sometimes ironical) expression of encouragement. Also go it ye gripples, crutches are cheap! (or newgate’s on fire); go it, my tulip; go it my gay and festive cuss! (Artemus Ward); or (American) go it boots! go it rags! i’ll hold your bonnet! g’lang! (usually to a man making the pace on foot or horseback.) For similar expressions see Mother. Fr., hardi!

1840. Thackeray, Cox’s Diary. Come along this way, ma’am! Go it, ye cripples!

1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 92. ‘Go it, old boy!’ cried the impetuous Smith.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. I., ch. iii. Three cheers for red! Go it—go it, red!

1890. Tit Bits, 1 Mar., p. 325. ‘Not for Joe’ ... came from a once popular song. So did go it, you cripples.

To go out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fall into disuse.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 113. Pockets, ... to use the flippant idiom of the day, are going out.

To go over, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To desert from one side to another; specifically (clerical) to join the Church of Rome; to vert (q.v.).

1861. Thackeray, Lovel the Widwer, ch. ii. I remember Pye, of Maudlin, just before he went over, was perpetually in Miss Prior’s back parlour with little books, pictures, medals, etc.

1878. Miss Braddon, Open Verdict, ch. vi. Mr. Dulcimer is a horrid person to tell you such stories; and after this, I shouldn’t be at all surprised at his going over to Rome.

2. (colloquial).—To die; i.e., to go over to join the majority. Also to go off. To go off the hooks, to go under, to go aloft, and to go up.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 4. ‘A sight, marm, this coon’s gone over.’ Ibid., p. 3. Them three’s all gone under.

3. (thieves’).—To attack, rifle, and rob.

1889. Referee, 2 June. A few who had ... gone over the landlord, left him skinned.

To go off, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To take place; to occur.

1866. Mrs. Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The wedding went off much as such affairs do.

2. (colloquial).—To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of Northumberland House, and had an equal chance of going off.

3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).

1883. Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2. Shotover rather went off in the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.

1892. Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those ... who are apt to go off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.

4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, v., 7. I would the friends we miss were safe arrived: Some must go off.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She’s dead, God bless her, and thank him for it!—was seized with a fit and went off.

Go as you please, adj. phr. (athletics’).—Applied to races where the competitors can run, walk, or rest at will: e.g., in time and distance races. Hence, general freedom of action.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic’ ’Twas regular go as you please.

To go to Bath, Putney, etc.—See Bath, Blazes, Hell, Halifax, etc.

To go through, verb. phr. (American).—1. To rob: i.e., to turn inside out. Hence, to master violently and completely; to make an end of.

1872. Evening Standard, 21 June. The roughs would work their will, and, in their own phrase, go through New York pretty effectually.

1888. Baltimore Sun. He was garrotted, and the two robbers went through him before he could reach the spot.

Ibid. It was a grand sight to see Farnsworth go through him; he did not leave him a single leg to stand upon.

2. (venery).—To possess a woman. For synonyms, see Ride.

To go up (or under), verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To go to wreck and ruin; to become bankrupt; to disappear from society. Also, to die. For synonyms, see Deadbroke.

1864. The Index, June. Soon after the blockade, many thought we should go up on the salt question.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Finding His Level). Poor John Weybridge, Esq., became as friendless as penniless, and eventually went under, and was heard of no more.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 May, p. 5, c. 1. He asks us further to state that the strike is completely at an end, the society having gone under.

2. (colloquial).—To die: Cf. Ger.: untergehen. For synonyms, see Aloft.

18(?). Hawkeye, The Iowa Chief, p. 210. Poor Hawkeye felt, says one of his biographers, that his time had come, and knowing that he must go under sooner or later, he determined to sell his life dearly.

1849. Ruxton, Life in the far West, p. 2. Them three’s all gone under.

1888. Daily Inter. Ocean, Mar. All solemnly vowed to see that the mine should be worked solely for the benefit of the girl whether Jim lived or had gone under.

To go up, verb. phr. (American).—To die; specifically to die by the rope.

1867. Hepworth Dixon, New America, i., 11. Unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them, the answer is briefly given, gone up—i.e., gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches.

To go up for, verb. phr. (common).—To enter for (as an examination).

1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, c. 4. Always, it seems likely, there will be men going up for examinations; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ‘Heathen Pass-ee’ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.

To go with, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To agree or harmonise with. See Gee.

2. (colloquial).—To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

On the go, adv. phr. (colloquial).—On the move; restlessly active.

No go, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Of no use; not to be done; a complete failure. Frequently contracted to N.G.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 18. I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, it’s no go.

1853. Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Dear master, don’t think of me ill; If I say—as the lists are no go—You’ve in future no fear for the till!

1884. Notes and Queries, 6 S., x., p. 125. There were on the occasion so many rounds and so many no goes.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 12. He thought a moment, and shook his head. It’s no go was the dictum.

1890. Punch, 22 Feb., p. 85. He’s a long-winded lot, is Buchanan, slops over tremenjous, he do;... But cackle and splutter ain’t swimming; so Robert, my nabs, it’s no go.

1892. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, p. 84. She sees it is no go with the baronet.

A little bit on the go, adv. phr. (old).—Slightly inebriated; elevated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [peoples’ ed.], p. 58. The Corinthian had made him a little bit on the go.

Goad, subs. (old).—1. A decoy at auctions; a horse-chaunter; a peter funk (q.v.). [One who goads (i.e., sends up) the prices.]

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle light, ch. x. They that stand by and conycatche the chapman either with out-bidding, false praises, etc., are called goades.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Goads, those that wheedle in Chapmen for Horse-coursers,

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. in. pl. (old).—False dice.—Chapman. For synonyms, see Ivories.

Goal, subs. (Winchester College).—1. At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head without his touching it.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (Goal, he was called) who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot: if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was a goal, and scored three for the party that kicked it.

Goaler’s Coach. See Gaoler’s Coach.

Go-along, subs. (thieves’).—A fool; a flat (q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage Head.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 460. In four days my adviser left me; he had no more use for me. I was a flat. He had me for a go-along, to cry his things for him.

1853. Household Words, No. 183. s.v. ‘Slang.’

Goat, subs. (old).—A lecher; a molrower (q.v.).

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iv., 4. Thou damn’d and luxurious mountain goat.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Goat, a Lecher, a very lascivious person.

1717. Cibber, Nonjuror, i., 1. At the tea-table I have seen the impudent goat most lusciously sip off her leavings.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Verb (common).—1. To thrash. For synonyms, see Tan.

1864. Derby Day, p. 70. You won’t goat me? Not this journey.

To play the goat. verb. phr. (common).—1. To play the fool; to monkey (q.v.). Fr., faire l’oiseau.

2. (venery).—To lead a fast life; to be given to molrowing (q.v.).

To ride the goat, verb. phr. (common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]

Goatee, subs. (colloquial).—A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat’s chin.]

English Synonyms (for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial; Newgate (or sweep’s) frill, or fringe.

French Synonyms.—Une marmouse (thieves’); un impériale (colloquial: formerly une royale); un bouc or une bouquine (= a goatee); bacchantes (thieves’: the beard, but more especially the whiskers, from bâche = awning).

German Synonym.—Soken (from the Hebrew; also = old man).

Italian Synonyms.—Bosco di berlo (the forest on the face); settosa (= full of hair); spinola (= thorny).

Spanish Synonym.—Bosque (= wood).

1869. Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a straggling goatee on the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.

Goater, subs. (American thieves’).—Dress. For synonyms, see Togs.

Goat-house, subs. (old).—A brothel. [From Goat, subs., sense 1.] For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Goatish, adj. (old, now recognised).—Lecherous. [As vieing with a goat in lust.] Hence Goatishly, adv., and Goatishness, subs.

1622. Massinger and Dekker, Virgin Martyr, iii., 1. Give your chaste body up to the embraces of goatish lust.

1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, i. 2. An admirable evasion of whoremaster-man, to lay his goatish disposition to the charge of a star.

Goat-Milker, subs. (venery).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Goat’s Jig (or Gigg), subs. (old).—Copulation. For synonyms, see Greens.—Grose.

Go-away, subs. (American thieves’).—A railway-train.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. The knuck was working the goaways at Jersey City.

Gob (or Gobbett), subs. (old: now vulgar). 1. A portion; a mouthful; a morsel. Also a gulp; a bolt (q.v.). [Latin, gob = mouth: Old Fr., gob = a gulp.] Skeat says the shorter form gob is rare.

1380. Wycliffe, Trans. of Bible. Thei token the relifis of broken gobetis twelve cofres full.

1542. Apop. of Erasmus [1878], p. 14. A bodie thinketh hymself well emende in his substaunce and riches, to whom hath happened some good gubbe of money, and maketh a great whinyng if he haue had any losse of the same.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks., v., 261. And thrust him downe his pudding house at a gobbe.

1605. Chapman, All Fools, Act iii., p. 62 (Plays, 1874). Ri. And do you think He’ll swallow down the gudgeon? Go. O my life, It were a gross gob would not down with him.

1611. L. Barry, Ram. Alley, I., i. That little land he gave, Throate the lawyer swallowed at one gob For less than half the worth.

1689. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 50 (Arber’s ed.). The meaning of the Law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such a gobbet sliced off, that yet notwithstanding he might live in the same Rank and Condition he lived in before; but now they Fine men ten times more than they are worth.

1690. B. E., Dict. Canting Crew, s.v. Gob(c) ... also a Bit or Morsel; hence gobbets, now more in use for little Bits.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gob or gobbet (s.) a piece just big enough, or fit to be put into the mouth at once.

1774. Foote, Cozeners, ii., 2. The venison was over-roasted, and stunk—but Doctor Dewlap twisted down such gobs of fat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Dict. (12th ed.). Gob, a small quantity, a low word.

1869. S. L. Clemens (M. Twain), Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of a gob of mud on the end of a shingle.

2. (common).—The mouth. Shut your gob = an injunction to silence. See Gab. A spank on the gob = a blow on the mouth. Gob-full of claret = a bleeding at the mouth. Gift of the gab or gob, see Gab. For synonyms see Potato-trap.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Gob, the Mouth.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 18. Home-hits in the bread-basket, clicks in the gob. Ibid., p. 30.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. 1. ‘All right—all right,’ I then exclaimed, as I thrust half a doubled-up muffin into my gob.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 469. I managed somehow to turn my gob (mouth) round and gnawed it away.

3. (common).—A mouthful of spittle. Fr., un copeau; It., smalzo di cavio (= gutter-butter). For synonyms, see Sixpences.

Verb. (common).—1. To swallow in mouthfuls; to gulp down. Also gobble (q.v.).

1692. L’Estrange, Fables. Down comes a kite powdering upon them, and gobbets up both together.

2. (common).—To expectorate. Fr., glavioter (popular); molarder.

Gobbie, subs. (nautical).—A coastguardsman; whence gobbie-ship, a man of war engaged in the preventive service.

1890. Scotsman, 4 Aug. When a meeting takes place the men indulge in a protracted yarn and a draw of the pipe. The session involves a considerable amount of expectoration all round, whereby our friends come to be known as gobbies, and in process of time the term came to be applied to the ships engaged in the service. Ibid. There are no fewer than three other gobbie ships in the channel fleet, each of which carries a considerable number of coastguardsmen putting in their annual period of drill.

Gobble (or Gobble up), verb. (vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Also gob: e.g., gob that!

1602. Dekker, Satiro-mastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come to gobble downe Plummes.

1728. Swift, Misc. Poems, in wks. (1824) xiv. 232. The time too precious now to waste, The supper gobbled up in haste.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain to gobble up like a cannibal.

1846–48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. 1, ch. v. Mr. Jos. ... helped Rebecca to everything on the table, and himself gobbled and drank a great deal.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat’s paw out, and proposed to gobble up the smoking prize.

Gobble-prick, subs. (old).—A lecherous woman.—Grose.

Gobbler, subs. (old).—1. A duck.—Harman.

2. (colloquial).—A turkey cock; a bubbly-jock (q.v.). Also Gobble-cock.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1851. Hooper, Widow Rugby’s Husband, etc., p. 94. Her face was as red as a gobbler’s snout.

3. (vulgar).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

4. (colloquial).—A greedy eater. For synonyms, see Stodger.

Gobbling, subs. (vulgar).—Gorging.

1846–48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. iii., vol. 1. His mouth was full of it, his face quite red with the delightful exercise of gobbling ‘Mother, it’s as good as my own curries in India.’

Go-between, subs. (old).—A pimp or bawd. Now an intermediary of any kind.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii., sc. 2. Even as you came into me, her assistant, or go-between, parted from me.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Goblin, subs. (old).—A sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. Your merry goblins soon stravag: Boose and the blowens cop the lot.

Gob-box, subs. (common).—The mouth. [From gob, subs.] For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1773. Forster, Goldsmith, Bk. IV., ch. xiv., p. 414 (5th ed.). Shuter protesting in his vehement odd way that ‘the boy could patter,’ and ‘use the gob-box as quick and smart as any of them.’

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. i. Your characters ... made too much use of the gob-box; they patter too much.

Gob-stick, subs. (old).—A silver table-spoon. (In use in America = either spoon or fork); (nautical), a horn or wooden spoon.

1789. Parker, Life’s Painter, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gob-string (or Gab-string), subs. (old).—A bridle.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Go-by, subs. (colloquial).—The act of passing; an evasion; a deception. To give one the go-by = to cut; to leave in the lurch. Cf., Cut (subs. sense 2, verb. sense 2).

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 214. When we came in contact with a travelling bookseller we could give him the go-by with our library.

1892. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, ch. ix. She gave us the go-by in the fog—as I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel’!

1892. Sala’s Journal, 25 June, p. 194. Now can you understand how it is possible, and, I think, expedient, to give politics the go-by, so far as one conveniently can?

Go-by-the-Ground, subs. (old).—A dumpy man or woman.—Grose.

God, subs. (common).—1. in. pl., the occupants of the gallery at a theatre. [Said to have been first used by Garrick because they were seated on high, and close to the sky-painted ceiling.] Fr., paradis = gallery; also poulailler. In feminine, Goddess.

1772. Cumberland, Fashionable Lover [probably spoken by printer’s devil]. ’Tis odds For one poor devil to face so many gods.

1812. J. and H. Smith, Rejected Addresses, p. 128 [ed. 1869]. Each one shilling god within reach of a nod is, And plain are the charms of each gallery goddess.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xxvii. The gallery was quite full ... one young god, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There come occasionally actors and actresses of higher repute, eager to gather new laurels in these untrodden regions, and not ill pleased to find themselves received with noisy rapture and outspoken admiration by the ruder gods and homelier goddesses of a threepenny gallery.

1890. Globe, 7 Apr., p. 2, c. 2. The gods, or a portion of them, hooted and hissed while the National Anthem was being performed.

1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, iii., iv. It is only when we have paid our ‘tuppence’ and ascended to the gallery just under the roof, known as ‘among the gods,’ that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the ‘great unwashed.’

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Apr., p. 2, c. 3. If theatre managers would only give the public the chance of as good a seat as can be got at the Trocadero or the Pavilion, at the same price, and manage the ventilation of their houses so as not to bake the gods and freeze the ‘pitites,’ I venture to think that fewer people would go to the music halls.

2. in. pl. (printers’).—The quadrats used in jeffing (q.v.).

3. (tailors’).—A block pattern. Gods of cloth = ‘classical tailors.’—Grose. See Snip.

4. (Eton).—A boy in the sixth form.

1881. Pascoe, Life in our Public Schools. A god at Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.

A sight for the gods, phr. (common).—A matter of wonderment.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 31. Stringy Bark prepared to greet his native land, was a sight for the gods to behold with satisfaction, and men to view from afar with awed respect.

God Pays! phr. (old).—An expression at one time much in the mouth of disbanded soldiers and sailors (who assumed a right to live on the public charity). The modern form is, ‘If I don’t pay you, God Almighty will.’

1605. London Prodigal, ii., 3. But there be some that bear a soldier’s form, That swear by him they never think upon; Go swaggering up and down, from house to house, Crying, God pays.

1630. Taylor, in wks. These feather’d fidlers sing, and leape, and play, The begger takes delight, and God doth pay.

1640. Ben Jonson, Epigr. XII. To every cause he meets, this voice he brays, His only answer is to all, God pays.

God (or Bramah) Knows: I don’t, phr. (common).—An emphatic rejoinder.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Come Iddio vel dica., a phrase, as wee would say: God himselfe tell you, I cannot.

Goddess Diana, subs. phr. (rhyming). A sixpence. For synonyms, see Tanner.

1864. The Press, 12 Nov. Goddess diana is the rhyming equivalent for a tanner which signifies sixpence.

God-dot! intj. (old).—An oath. By God! [A contraction of ‘God wot!’] For synonyms, see Oaths.

Godfather, subs. (old).—A juryman.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. In christ’ning thou shalt have two godfathers, Had I been judge, thou should’st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

1616. Ben Jonson, Devil’s An Ass, v., 5. Not I, If you be such a one, sir, I will leave you To your god-fathers in law. Let twelve men work.

1638. Randolph, Muses’ Looking Glass, ix. 251. I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelve godvathers, good men and true, condemn him to the gallows.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To stand Godfather, verb. phr. (common).—To pay the reckoning. [Godfathers being the objects of much solicitude and expectation.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Will you stand godfather, and we will take care of the brat? = repay you another time.

Go-down, subs. (old).—1. A draught of liquor; a go (q.v.).

2. (American).—See quot.

1881. New York Times, 18 Dec., quoted in ‘N and Q’ 6, S. v. 65. Go Down.—A cutting in the bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross or to get to water.

God-permit, subs. (old).—A stage coach. [Which was advertised to start Deo volente.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. God-permit, a stage coach, from that affectation of piety, frequently to be met with in advertisements of stage coaches or waggons, where most of their undertakings are promised with if God permit, or God willing.

1825. Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

God’s-mercy, subs. (old).—Ham (or bacon) and eggs. [‘There’s nothing in the house but God’s mercy’: at one time a common answer in country inns to travellers in quest of provant.]

God’s-penny, subs. (old).—An earnest penny.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. God’s Penny, Earnest Money, to Bind a Bargain.

1765. Percy, Reliques, ‘The heir of Linne.’ Then John he did him to record draw, And John he cast him a God’s pennie.

Go-easter, subs. (American cowboys’).—A portmanteau; a peter (q.v.). [Because seldom used except in going city- or east-wards.]

Goer, subs. (old).—1. The foot. For synonyms, see Creepers.

1557–1634. Chapman, in Encyclop. Dict. A double mantle, cast Athwart his shoulders, his faire goers grac’t With fitted shoes.

2. (colloquial).—An expert or adept; as in drawing, talking, riding; one well up to his (or her) work: generally with an adjective, as e.g., a fast (or hell of a) goer = a good goer.

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xx. Nevertheless, she was always deeply engaged, and generally to the best goers in the room.

Goff. See Mrs. Goff.

Goggles, subs. (common).—1. A goggle-eyed person. Also Goggler.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of Malta, v., 2. Do you stare, goggles?

1891. Clark Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 51. No use sending blind man aloft, gogglers like myself, worse luck.

2. in. pl. (common).—The eyes: specifically those with a constrained or rolling stare; also Goggle-eyes. Goggle-eyed = squint-eyed.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Strabo, he that looketh a squint or is goggle-eide.

c. 1746. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 69. An eagle of a dwarfish size, With crooked Beak, and gogle eyes.

1691–1763. Byrom, Dissection of a Beau’s Head. Those muscles, in English, wherewith a man ogles, When on a fair lady he fixes his goggles.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1821. Pierce Egan, Life in London, p. 241. Rolling your goggles about after all manner of people.

3. in. pl. (common).—Spectacles. For synonyms, see Barnacles.

Verb (colloquial).—Goggle = to roll the eyes; to stare.

1577–87. Holinshed, Description of Ireland, ch. i. They goggle with their eyes hither and thither.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Goggle, to stare.

1820–37. Walpole, Letters, iii., 174. He goggled his eyes.

1880. Millikin, Punch’s Almanack, April. Scissors! don’t they goggle and look blue.

Gogmagog, subs. (colloquial).—A goblin; a monster; a frightful apparition.—Hood.

Going, subs. (colloquial).—The condition of a road, a piece of ground, a cinder-path: i.e., the accommodation for travelling. E.g., the going is bad.

1872. Morning Post, 19 Aug. The Lamb’s starting in the Frankfort steeple-chase will depend upon the state of the ground, and, avoiding Wiesbaden, where the going is indifferent.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. The going was wonderfully clean for the time of year.

Goings-on, subs. (colloquial).—Behaviour; proceedings; conduct. Cf., Carryings on.

1845. Douglas Jerrold, Mrs. Caudle, Lecture viii. Pretty place it must be where they don’t admit women. Nice goings-on, I daresay, Mr. Caudle.

1870. Lloyd’s Newspaper, 11 Sept. ‘Review.’ Elsie is beloved by Gawthwaite, the village schoolmaster, and he takes her to task for her goings-on.

Goldarned (or Goldurned, Goldasted, etc.), adj. (common).—A mild form of oath: = Blamed (q.v.); Bloody (q.v.). See Oaths. As intj., Goldarn it! etc.

1888. American Humorist. ‘Bill, are you hurt?’ ‘Yes, by gum; I’ve broke my goldarned neck.’

1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Finally, Deacon Spalding broke out with: ‘That goldasted St. Louis mugwump has made suckers of us again with his cracks about coming into the league. I move we adjourn.’

Gold-backed ’Un, subs. (common).—A louse. Also Grey-backed ’un. For synonyms, see Chates.

Gold Bug, subs. phr. (American).—A man of wealth and (inferentially) distinction; a millionaire. See Bug.

1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Mar. 5. I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a few gold bugs might fight him.

Gold-dropper, subs. (old).—A sharper. An old-time worker of the confidence trick. See quots. Also Gold-finder.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. Gold-droppers, Sweetners, Cheats, Sharpers.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gold-finder (s.) ... also a cant name for a cheat, who under the pretence of finding a piece of money, and inviting a by-stander to partake of a treat, etc., out of it, endeavours to get him to play at cards, dice, etc., in order to win or cheat him of his money; they are sometimes also called guinea-droppers.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Sharpers who drop a piece of gold, which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite him to a public house to partake of it: when there, two or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail of stripping their prey.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Golden-cream, subs. (thieves’).—Rum.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321, s.v.

Gold-end Man, subs. phr. (old).—An itinerant jeweller; a buyer of old gold and silver. [Gold-end = a broken piece of jewellery.] Also Goldsmith’s Apprentice. See Eastward Hoe.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, ii., 1. I know him not, he looks like a gold-end man.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iii., 1. Hig. Have ye any ends of gold or silver?

Golden Grease, subs. phr. (old).—A fee; also a bribe. For synonyms, see Palm Oil.

Goldfinch, subs. (old).—1. A well-to-do man; a warm ’un (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Goldfinch, c. He that has alwaies a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. iv. ‘Was the swell a goldfinch?’ ‘He wasn’t nothin’ else. Got a clean ten times ten out of him.’

Ibid. ‘It’ll be a great lay, if the game’s fat. Is it a goldfinch?’ ‘Fifty thousand, hard dust.’

2. (common).—A guinea; a sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary.

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, ii., 2. Sir H. Don’t you love singing-birds, madam? Angel (aside). That’s an odd question for a lover; (aloud) Yes, sir. Sir H. Why, then, madam, here is a nest of the prettiest goldfinches that ever chirped in a cage.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. iv. Put your monies aside, my lord; it is not well to be seen with such goldfinches chirping about one in the lodgings of London.

1826. Buckstone, Luke the Labourer, iii., 4. Good-night, noble captain. Pipe all hands at five o’clock, for I’ve a day’s work to do. We’ll jig it to-morrow, to the piping of gold-finches.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 101 (ed. 1864). Here’s a handful of goldfinches ready to fly.

Goldfinch’s Nest, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1827. The Merry Muses, p. 70. And soon laid his hand on the goldfinch’s nest.

Gold-finder, subs. (old).—1. An emptier of privies. Also Tom-turd-man; Gong-man; and Night-man. Fr., un fouille-merde; un fifi. Also passer la jambe à Jules = to upset Mrs. Jones, i.e., to empty the privy tub.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, Gadouard, a gould-finder, Jakes-farmer.

1635. Feltham, Resolves. As our goldfinders ... in the night and darkness thrive on stench and excrements.

1653. Middleton, Sp. Gipsy, ii., 2, p. 398 (Mermaid series). And if his acres, being sold for a maravedii a turf for larks in cages, cannot fill this pocket, give ’em to goldfinders.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1704. Gentleman Instructed, p. 445 (1732). We will commit the further discussion of the poet to a committee of goldfinders, or a club of rake-kennels.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v

2. (old).—A thief; a gold-dropper (q.v.).

Gold Hat-band, subs. (old University).—A nobleman undergraduate; a tuft (q.v.).

1628. Earle, Microcosmography. His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle to gold hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.

1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as ‘tufts,’ because of the gold tuft or tassle to their cap, were then known as gold hatbands.

Goldie-locks, subs. (old).—A flaxen-haired woman. Goldy-locked = golden haired.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Biondella ... a golden-lockt wench, as we say a goldilocks.

1605. Ben Jonson, The Fox, i., 1. Thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration to goldy-locked Euphorbus.

Gold Mine, subs. phr. (common).—A profitable investment; a store of wealth, material or intellectual.

1664. H. Peacham, Worth of a Penny, in Arber’s Garner, vol. VI., p. 249. Some men ... when they have met with a gold mine, so brood over and watch it, day and night, that it is impossible for Charity to be regarded, Virtue rewarded, or Necessity relieved.

1830 Tennyson, Dream of Fair Women, p. 274. Gold-mines of thought—to lift the hidden ore.

1882. Thormanby, Famous Racing Men, p. 81. Mendicant ... ran nowhere in the Cup ... in reality she was destined to prove a gold mine, for ten years afterwards she brought her owner £80,000 through her famous son, Beadsman.

1883. Sat. Review, 28 Apr. 533/2. His victory proved a gold mine to the professional bookmakers.

1887. Froude, Eng. in West Indies, ch. v. Every one was at law with his neighbour, and the island was a gold mine to the Attorney-General.

Golgotha, subs. (old).—1. The Dons’ gallery at Cambridge; also applied to a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, ‘the place of skulls’: Cf., Luke xxiii. 33, and Matthew xxvii. 33, whence the pun: Dons being the heads of houses.]

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I’ll have you put in the black-book, rusticated,—expelled—I’ll have you coram nobis at Golgotha, where you’ll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1791. G. Huddesford, Salmagundi, (Note on, p. 150). Golgotha, ‘The place of a Scull,’ a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.

1808. J. T. Conybeare in C. K. Sharpe’s Correspondence (1888), i., 324. The subject then, of the ensuing section is Oxford News ... we will begin by golgotha ... Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths ... is to have that of University.

2. (common).—Hence, a hat.

English Synonyms.—Battle of the Nile (rhyming, i.e., a tile [q.v.]); bell-topper; billy-cock; beaver; box-hat; cady; canister cap; castor; chummy; cathedral; chimney; chimney-pot; cock; colleger; cock-and-pinch; cowshooter; David; deerstalker; digger’s delight; fantail; felt; Gibus; gomer (Winchester); goss; moab; molocher; mortar-board; muffin-cap; mushroom; nab; nap; napper; pantile; pimple-cover; pill-box; plug-hat; pot; shako; shovel; sleepless hat; sou’wester; stove-pipe; strawer; thatch; tile; topper; truck; upper-crust; wash-pot; wee-jee; wide-awake.

French Synonyms.—Un accordéon (popular: an opera hat); une ardoise (= a tile); une bâche (thieves’: also an awning); une biscope or viscope (vulgar); un blockaus (vulgar: a shako); un bloumard or une bloume (popular); une boîte à cornes (a horn case; i.e., a cover for a cuckold); un Bolivar (from the hero of 1820); un boisseau (also = a bushel); un bosselard (schoolboys’: from bosselé = bruised or dented); un cabas (popular: = old hat; also basket or bag); un cadratin (printers’ = a stove-pipe); un caloquet (thieves’); cambriau, cambrieux, or cambriot (popular); un capet (from old French, capel); une capsule (popular = a percussion cap); un carbeluche galicé (a silk hat); une casque (= helmet); un chapska (= a shako); une cheminée (popular: = chimney-pot); une corniche (popular: = a cornice); un couvercle (popular: = pot-lid); une couvrante; un couvre-amour (military); un cylindre (= a stove-pipe); un Desfoux (from the maker’s name); un epicéphale (students’: from the Greek); un gadin (an old hat); un galure or galurin (popular); un Garibaldi; un Gibus (from the inventor’s name); un lampion (thieves’: = grease-pot); un loubion (thieves’); un marquin (thieves’); un monument (popular); un nid d’hirondelle; un niolle (thieves’: an old hat); un tromblon (obsolete = blunderbuss); un tubard, tube, or tube à haute pression (= a cylinder); une tuile (= a tile); une tuyau de poêle (= a stove-pipe).

German Synonyms.—Bre (Viennese); Kowe (from the Hebrew, kowa).

Italian Synonyms.—Bufala, baccha or biffacha; cresta or cristiana (= a cruet); fungo (= mushroom).

Spanish Synonyms.—Tejado or techo (= tiled roof).

Goliath, subs. (colloquial).—1. A big man.

2. A man of mark among the Philistines (q.v.). [Mr. Swinburne described the late Matthew Arnold as ‘David, the son of Goliath.’]

Goll, subs. (old).—The hand; usually in. pl. See Bunch of Fives and Daddle.

1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, v., Bring the whoreson detracting slaves to the bar, do; make them hold vp their spread golls.

1602. Dekker, Satiro-Mastrix, in wks. (1873), i., 203. Holde up thy hand: I ha seene the day thou didst not scorne to holde vp thy golles.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act i. This is the goll shall do’t.

1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, ii., 2. What their golls can clutch.

1634. S. Rowley, Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 2. Bal. Saist thou me so? give me thy goll, thou art a noble girle.

1659. Massinger, City Madam, iv., i. All the gamesters are ambitious to shake the golden golls of worshipful master Luke.

1661. T. Middleton, Mayor of Quinborough, v., i. Down with his golls, I charge you.

1672. Dryden, The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. A simperer at lower end of a table, With mighty golls, rough-grained, and red with starching.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Goll, a hand or fist; give me thy goll.

1803. C. K. Sharpe in Correspondence (1888), i., 179. Miss Reid with her silk coat and greasie golls.

Gollop, verb. (common).—To swallow greedily; to gulp. For synonyms, see Wolf.

Gollumpus, subs. (old).—A clumsy lout.—Grose.

Golly!—A contraction of By Golly! (q.v.).

1890. R. L. Stevenson, The Wrong Box, p. 275. Golly! what a paper!

Goloptious (or Golopshus), adj. (common).—Splendid; fine; delicious; luscious.

1888. Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described as goloptious.

Goloshes, subs. (colloquial).—India rubber overshoes. But see Grose.

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Goloshes, i.e. Goliah’s shoes. Large leathern clogs, worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes.

Gombeen-man, subs. (Irish).—A usurer; a money-lender; a sharking middleman. For synonyms, see Sixty-per-cent.

Gomer, subs. (Winchester College).—1. A large pewter dish used in college.

2. (Winchester College).—A new hat. See Golgotha.

Gommy, subs. (old).—1. A dandy. Fr., gommeux. [Anglo-Saxon, guma = a man; a person: gomme = gommer = gammer. Cf., Gomus. Beaumont has gom = a man.]

2. (colloquial).—See quot.

1883. Weekly Dispatch, 11 Mar., p. 7, c. 4. There has recently been considerable debate as to the meaning of the term gommie. It is very simple. A gommie is one who calls Mr. Gladstone a G.O.M. [Grand Old Man], and thinks he has made a good joke.

3. (colloquial).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gomus, subs. (Irish).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gondola, subs. (American).—1. A railway platform car, sideless or low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.

Gondola of London, subs. phr. (common).—A hansom cab; a shoful (q.v.). [The description is Lord Beaconsfield’s.]

Gone, adj. (colloquial).—1. Ruined; totally undone. Also, adv., an expression of completeness, e.g., Gone beaver, corbie, coon, gander, or goose = a man or an event past praying for: Cf., Go up and Go down.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, iv., 3. He must know ’tis none of your daughter nor my sister; we are gone else.

1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xviii. If a bear comes after you, Sam, you must be up and doin’, or it’s a gone goose with you.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 40. From that moment he was gone beaver; he felt queer, he said, all over.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S. iii., 519. To call a person a gone corbie, is only to say in other words, it’s all up with him.

1862. Clough, Poems. He had been into the schools; plucked almost; all but a gone-coon.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 178. I shall meet her again next week; will you come? Any friend of mine is welcome. Wish me joy, old fellow; I’m a gone coon.

Gone on, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Enamoured of; infatuated with; mashed on (q.v.); sweet on (q.v.). Generally in contempt. Fr., aimer comme ses petits boyaux. For synonyms, see Sweet on.

1887. John Strange Winter, That Imp, p. 44. He was a fine fellow, and no mistake. And was gone on Lady Lorrimor!

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 Mar. p. 10, c. 3. He must have been terribly gone on this woman.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 113. ‘Poor chap, he’s very far gone,’ thought Jack.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 31. I’ll eat my old boots if she isn’t dead gone on.

Goner, (or Gones, Gonus, or Goney), subs. (American).—1. A fool; a simpleton. Also Gauney (q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle or Cabbage-head.

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. But the lark’s when a goney up with us they shut, As ain’t up to our lurks, our flash patter, and smut.

1860. Haliburton, Sam Slick, ‘The Season Ticket,’ No. X. ‘It’s only grief, Nabby dear, my heart is broke.’ ‘Is that all, you goney?’ says she, ‘it’s lucky your precious neck ain’t broke.’

a. 1871. The Dartmouth, vol. iv. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a gonus. ‘Gonus,’ echoed I, ‘what does that mean?’ ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘you’re a Freshman, and don’t understand. A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus, is here called a gonus. All Freshmen,’ he continued gravely, ‘are gonuses.’

2. (colloquial).—A person past recovery, utterly ruined, or done for in any way.

1876. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Tom Sawyer, p. 99. ‘Yes, but she ain’t dead; and, what’s more, she’s getting better too.’ ‘All right, you wait and see. She’s a goner, just as dead sure as Muff Potter’s a goner.’

1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Fortunately, she did not see me, or else I should have been a goner.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 261. ‘Make a noise or follow me, and you’re a goner,’ said Smirk.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 212. A few more of her meddlings and she’s a goner, that’s what she is.

Gong (or Gong-house), subs. (old).—A privy. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. ‘The Parsons Tale’ [Riverside Ed. (1880)], ii., 241. Thise fool wommen, that mowe be likned to a commune gong, whereas men purgen hire ordure.

Gong-farmer (or Gong-man), subs. (old).—An emptier of cesspools; a gold-finder (q.v.).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Curadestri, a iakes, goong, or doong farmer.

Gonof (or Gonnof or Gonoph or Gnof), subs. (thieves’).—1. A thief; specifically a pick-pocket, and especially an adept. [From the Hebrew. Ancient English; a legacy from the old time Jews. It came into use again with the moderns who employ it commonly. Cf., gonov = thief in Ex. xxii, 2 and 6, viz., ‘if the gonov be found.’] See Thieves.

1857. Dickens, On Duty with Inspector Field, in ‘Reprinted Pieces’ p. 256. If the smallest gonoph about town were crouching at the bottom of a classic bath Inspector Field would nose him.

1849. Morning Chronicle, 2 Nov. A burglar would not condescend to sit among pickpockets. My informant has known a housebreaker to say with a sneer, when requested to sit down with the gonoffs, ‘No, no, I may be a thief, but at least I’m a respectable one.’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 325. The gonaff (a Hebrew word signifying a young thief, probably learnt from the Jew ‘fences’ in the neighbourhood).

1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, ch. vii. He next assumed his present profession, and became a gnof or pickpocket.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 146. Oh, you tief! you cheat! you gonnof!

1889. Referee, 12 May. Gonophs ... were frequent in Tattersall’s on Friday.

1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. Boys who creep into houses.... Young gunneffs or gonophs.

2. (old).—A bumpkin; a churl; a clumsy hand; a shameless simpleton.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 3187–8. Whilom there was, dwelling in Oxenforde, A rich gnof, that gertes helde to borde.

c. 1547. Song (quoted by Hotten). The country gnoffes, Hob, Dick, and Hick, With clubbes and clouted shoon, Shall fill up Dussin Dale With slaughtered bodies soone.

Verb (old).—To wheedle; to cheat; to steal.

Gonophing, subs. (thieves’).—Picking pockets.

1857. Dickens, The Detective Police, in ‘Reprinted Pieces,’ p. 240. From the swell mob, we diverge to the kindred topics of cracksmen, fences ... designing young people who go out gonophing, and other ‘schools.’

Gooby, subs. (common).—A simpleton; a blockhead. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. Why, you old gooby, Mister Sloper will pay us twice as much for the ducks.

Good! subs. (printers’).—An abbreviation of ‘Good Night!’

Adj. (colloquial).—Responsible; solvent; principally now with ‘for’; e.g., He is good for any amount. Also, expert.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i., 3. Antonio is a good man: my meaning in saying that he is a good man, is to have you understand me that he is sufficient.

1824. Reynolds, Peter Corcoran, 91 Good with both hands and only ten stone four.

Good goods, in. pl., subs. phr. (sporting).—Something worth trying for; a success. In the superlative, ‘best’ goods.

1886. Sporting Times, 17 July, 1/4. He was a nice young man for a small tea party, And rather good goods at a Sunday-school treat.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 39. There’s Warner in ‘Drink’; now, that’s business, good goods and no error.

Bit (or Piece) of Goods, subs. phr. (common).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Good old ... adj. phr. (popular).—A familiar address, derisive or affectionate according to circumstances. See quots.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Sept., p. 6, c. 1. It was Mephisto’s greeting to Mary Anne—in Marguerite’s garden—‘Good old Mary Anne!’!!!

Ibid. The famous medico craned his neck out of the window, and, sniffing in the smoke, cried, good old London. This is a true story.

Ibid., 17 Sept. Mr. Chirgwin ... rouses mirth by ... exclaiming good old spot! as he discloses the large white ace of diamonds painted over his right optic.

1892. Chevalier ‘The Little Nipper.’ ’E calls ’is mother ‘Sally,’ And ’is father ‘good old pally,’ And ’e only stands about so ’igh, that’s all!

To feel good, verb. phr. (American).—To be jolly; comfortable; ‘in form’; to be on perfect terms with oneself.

1887. Proctor [in Knowledge, 1 Dec., p. 29]. A friend of mine tells me a proposition was once invitingly made to him which, to say the least, involved no virtuous self-abnegation, and he was urged to accept it by the plea that it would make him feel good.

1888. Texas Siftings, 15 Sept. The saloons are going Saturday afternoon, and the men feel pretty good before they come abroad.

To be in one’s good books, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be in favour; in good opinion. Conversely, To be in one’s bad books = To be in disfavour. See Book.

Good at it (or at the Game), adj. phr. (venery).—An expert bedfellow, male or female.

To have a good swim.—See Swim.

For good (or For good and all), adv. phr. (colloquial).—Completely; entirely; finally.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Danc. Master, ii., in wks. (1713), 276. If I went, I would go for good and all.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act i., Sc. 3. Sharp. Faith, e’en give her over for good and all: you can have no hopes of getting her for a Mistress.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. II., ch. v., p. 66. So the child went up to the hills with Bruno, and stayed there for good and all.

Good as Wheat.—See Wheat.

Good as ever pissed, phr. (venery).—A qualification of extreme excellence.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 260. And she is as good for the game as e’er pissed.

Good as a Play.—See Play.

Good as Gold, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Very good; usually of children.

As good as they make ’em.—See Make ’em.

Good-bye, John! phr. (American).—It’s no go; all’s U.P.

Good cess, subs. phr. (Irish).—Good luck. (Probably an abbreviation of ‘success.’) Bad Cess = the reverse.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, i., 1. All. Bravo, Paddy! Good cess to ye, Paddy! Hurrah!

Goodfellow (or Good Boy, or Good Man), subs. (old).—1. A roysterer; a boon companion.

1570. Ascham, Scholemaster. Sir Roger had been a good fellow in his youth.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Good Fellow, a Pot companion or Friend of the Bottle.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A word of various imports, according to the place where it is spoken; in the city it means a rich man; at Hockley in the Hole, or St. Giles’s, an expert boxer; at a bagnio in Covent Garden, a vigorous fornicator; at an alehouse or tavern, one who loves his pot or bottle: and sometimes, though but rarely, a virtuous man.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. Rattling Reginald Lowestoffe of the Temple—I know him; he is a good boy.

2. (old).—A thief. See Thieves.

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, ii., 1. Luc. Welcome, good fellow. Host. He calls me thief at first sight. [Footnote in ‘Mermaid Series’ Ed. Good fellow was then the cant term for a thief.]

1870. Evening Standard, 11 Feb. ‘Police Report.’ Police detective said that he believed the two prisoners were good men. In reply to the magistrate he explained that he meant they were old thieves.

Good Girl (or Good One), adj. phr. (old).—A wanton.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gaultière—A whore, punke, drab, queane, gill, flirt, strumpet, cockatrice, mad wench, common hackney, good one.

Goodman, subs. (old).—1. A gaoler; a dubsman (q.v.).

1721–2. Woodrow, History, ii., 636. The goodman of the Tolbooth came to him in his chamber, and told him he might save his life, if he would sign the petition.

2. (colloquial).—The devil. For synonyms, see Skipper.

Goodman-turd, subs. (old).—A contemptible fellow; a bad-egg (q.v.).

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Dometa, an old worde for a shitten fellow, or goodman-turde.

Good Night! intj. phr. (general).—A retort to an incredible statement or a delightful piece of news. See Carry me out!

Good-people, subs. (old colloquial).—The fairies.

1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, ch. v. An nothin’ shows itself now by night, neither spirits nor good people.

1848. Forster, Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. 1, p. 8 (5th ed.). A small old parsonage house (supposed afterwards to be haunted by the fairies, or good people of the district).

1891. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 168. ‘Did ever ye hear tell of the story of the Man and the Good People?’—by which he meant the fairies.

Good (or Good Old) Sort, subs. phr. (popular).—A man of social and other parts.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 149. Had we not better make a clean breast of it, and trust to his generosity; he seems a good sort?

Good Thing, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Something worth having or backing; a bon mot; good goods (q.v.). In racing a presumed cert (q.v.).

1844. Puck, p. 63. Here’s to the good thing whose neatness we prize.

1884. Saturday Review, 2 Aug., p. 147, c. 2. The Goodwood Stakes was considered a good thing for Florence, who has proved herself to be an extraordinary mare.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In a field of four, Livingstone, who was voted a good thing, was served up a warm favourite.

1891. Daily Telegraph, 21 Mar. It had been generally anticipated that this was a good thing for Oxford.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. That them as trades in rags and bones Makes more than them as writes good things.

Good Time, subs. phr. (old).—A carouse; a friendly gathering; an enjoyable bout at anything.

To have a good time, verb. phr. (old).—To be fortunate or lucky; to enjoy oneself; to make merry. See Cocum.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, i., 2. As not ten housewives pewter, again a good time, shews more bright to the world than he! [= some festival, ‘when housewives are careful to set out their furniture to the best advantage.’—Note by Whalley, given in Cunningham’s Gifford’s Jonson (1870)].

1863. A. Trollope, Rachel Ray, ii., 6., 109. Eating cake and drinking currant wine, but not having, on the whole, what our American friends call a good time of it.

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxviii. And what have you been doing? Had a good time?

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carquinez Woods, ch. ix. But we must keep it dark until after I marry Nellie, don’t you see. Then we’ll have a good time all round, and I’ll stand the drinks.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 14. My idea of man’s chief end was to enrich the world with things of beauty, and have a fairly good time myself while doing so.

Good ’un, subs. phr. (colloquial).—1. A man, woman, or thing of decided and undoubted merit. Cf., Good-girl.

1828–45. T. Hood, Poems, vi., p. 254 [ed. 1846]. A good ’un to look at but bad to go.

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Dirge of a Drinker.’ Like a good ’un as he is.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 160. He’s a real good un, and when his party plank the stuff down it’s generally a moral.

2. (colloquial).—An expression of derisive unbelief: e.g., a lie. See Whopper.

Good-wooled, adj. phr. (American).—Of unflinching courage; of the greatest merit; thoroughly dependable.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Goody, subs. (popular).—1. A matron: the correllative of goodman = husband. (Used like auntie, and mother, and gammer, in addressing or describing an inferior.) (A corruption of good-wife).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Mona, ... Also a nickname for women as we say gammer, goodie, goodwife, such a one.

1689. Accts. of the Churchwardens of Sprowston. Paid goody Crabbin for washing the surplis and church powrch, 1s. 3d.

d. 1732. Gay. Swarm’d on a rotten stick the bees I spy’d Which erst I saw when goody Dopon dy’d.

d. 1745. Swift. Plain goody would no longer down: ’Twas Madam in her grogram gown.

1802. Bloomfield, Rural Tales, ‘Richard and Kate.’ Come, Goody, stop your humdrum wheel.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Dict. s.v. A low term of civility used to mean persons.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Witches’ Frolic.’ Old Goody Price, Had got something nice.

Hence Goodyship = ‘ladyship.’

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. 1, c. 3. The more shame for her goodyship, To give so near a friend the slip.

2. (colloquial).—A religious hypocrite, male or female; the ‘unco guid’ of Burns.

1836. Kidd, London Ambulator, p. 14. Clapham is celebrated for goodies—ladies of a certain age, who not having succeeded in finessing for husbands, betake themselves to a religious life as a dernier resort.

Hence goody-goodyism = sentimental piety.

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Nov., p. 3., c. 1. The Christmas tale of adventure ... has perhaps cast off its element of goody-goodyism, but the general features and cast are as of old.

3. generally in. pl. (colloquial).—Sweetmeats; bon-bons; cakes and buns.

1853. Mayhew, Letters Left at a Pastrycook’s. Propped up on each side with bags of oranges, cakes, and goodies.

1855. H. A. Murray, Lands of the Slave and the Free, ch. xii. Adjourning from time to time to some café for the purpose of eating ices or sucking goodies.

4. (American).—The kernel of a nut.

Adj. (colloquial).—Well-meaning but petty; officiously pious. Also goody-goody.

1864. D. W. Thompson, Daydreams of a Schoolmaster, p. 230. I would rather they were not too good; or goody. Let us have a little naughtiness, sprinkled in at intervals.

1892. S. Watson, Wops the Waif, p. 7. He knew well enough the whole of this enterprise had sprung from a goody-goody idea of ‘doing something,’ born of impulse and whim.

Goodyear, subs. (old).—The pox. (A corruption of gougeer, from gouge = a soldier’s trull). For synonyms, see Ladies’ Fever.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, v., 3. The goodyears shall devour them.

Gook, subs. (American).—A low prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

Goose, subs. (common).—1. A tailor’s smoothing iron. (Whose handle is shaped like the neck of the bird.) Hence the old ditton, ‘A taylor be he ever so poor is sure to have a goose at his fire.’—Grose. Fr., un gendarme.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, ii., 3. Come in, taylor; here you may roast your goose.

1606. Dekker, Newes from Hell, in Wks. (Grosart) ii., 114. Every man being armed with his sheeres and pressing Iron, which he calls there his goose.

1638. Randolph, Hey for Honesty. ... Tailor. Oh! it is an age that, like the Ostrich, makes me feed on my own goose.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xii., p. 276. He grew as hot as a Botcher’s goose.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Goose (s.) ... also the large, heavy iron used by taylors, to press down their seams with when heated very hot.

1766. Kenrick, Falstaff’s Wedding, iii., 1. Although they had been hissing all the way like a tailor’s goose.

1861. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, Noon, Par. 12. An Irish tailor who has had a slight dispute with his wife the night before, and has corporeally chastised her with a hot goose—a tailor’s goose, be it understood—to the extent of all but fracturing her skull.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 89. On the return of the warders from their own breakfast, the tools—scissors, sleeve-boards, irons, or geese—are served out.

2. (common).—A simpleton: usually only of women. Also Goosecap (q.v.).

1591. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. Mercutio. Was I there with you for the goose? Rom. Thou wast never with me that thou wast not for the goose.

1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

3. (venery).—See Winchester Goose.

4. (colloquial).—A reprimand; a wigging (q.v.); cf., verb, sense 1.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life etc., i., 276. On the adventure reaching the ears of the Duke of Wellington, the active experimentalist received considerable goose.

5. (printers’).—See Wayz goose.

6. (colloquial).—A woman: whence, by implication, the sexual favour.

Verb. (common).—1. To hiss; to condemn by hissing. Also to get the goose or the big bird (q.v.). Among Fr. equivalents are: appeler or siffler Azor (= to whistle a dog, Azor being a common canine appellation); boire une goutte (= to be goosed); attrapper; reconduire; se faire travailler; empoigner; éreinter; polisonner; égayer.

1854. Dickens, Hard Times, ch. vi. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night before last, he was goosed to-day.

1858. Dickens, Xmas Stories (Going into Soc.), p. 67 (House. Ed.). Which makes you grind your teeth at him to his face, and which can hardly hold you from goosing him audible when he’s going through his War-Dance.

1873. Hornet, 29 Jan., p. 211, c. 2. Ferdin. Fact! My soul is sick on’t. Goosed last night; My salary docked.

1875. T. Frost, Circus Life, p. 281. An artiste is goosed, or gets the goose, when the spectators or auditors testify by sibillant sounds disapproval or dissatisfaction.

1886. Graphic, 10 Apr., p. 399. To be goosed, or, as it is sometimes phrased, ‘to get the big bird,’ is occasionally a compliment to the actor’s power of representing villainy, but more often is disagreeably suggestive of a failure to please.

2. (colloquial).—To ruin; to spoil. See Cook one’s goose.

1888. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 22 Dec., p. 301. We was pretty nigh goosed.

3. (cobblers’).—To mend boots by putting on a new front half-way up, and a new bottom; elsewhere called footing boots. Cf., Fox.

4. (venery).—To go wenching; to womanize (q.v.).

5. (venery).—To possess a woman.

Goose Without Gravy, subs. phr. (nautical).—A severe but bloodless blow. See Wipe.

To be sound on the goose. verb. phr. (American).—Before the civil war, to be sound on the pro-slavery question: now, to be generally staunch on party matters; to be politically orthodox.

1857. Providence Journal, 18 June. To seek for political flaws is no use, His opponents will find he is sound on the goose.

1857. Gladstone, Kansas: or Squatter Life, p. 43. One of the boys, I reckon? All right on the goose, eh? No highfaluten airs here, you know.

1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II. Northern religion works wal North, but it’s ez suft ez spruce, compar’d to our’n for keepin’ sound, sez she, upon the goose.

1875. American English in Chamb. Journal, 25 Sept., p. 610. A man who can be depended upon by his party is said to be sound on the goose.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 22. He didn’t appear quite so sound on the goose as he ought to ha’ done.

To find fault with a fat goose, verb. phr. (old).—To grumble without rhyme or reason.—B. E. (1690).

To kill the goose for the golden eggs, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To grasp at more than is due; to over-reach oneself. (From the Greek fable.)

Everything is lovely and the goose hangs high, phr. See Everything.

He’ll be a man among the geese when the gander is gone, phr. (old).—Ironical; = ‘He’ll be a man before his mother.’

Go! shoe the goose, phr. (old).—A retort, derisive or incredulous = the modern ‘To hell and pump thunder.’

Unable to say boh! to a goose, phr. (colloquial).—Said of a bashful person.—Grose.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 76. And now ... he can hardly say boh to a goose.

See also Wild-goose Chase.

Goose-and-Duck, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A fuck.

Goose and Gridiron, subs. phr. (political American).—The American eagle, and the United States flag. See Gridiron.

1891. Standard, 3 Jan., p. 3, c. 1. This is curious, considering the almost fetish-like veneration entertained by the modern American for his Standard, which, coupled with the national bird, tempted the Loyalists in the early days of the war to vent endless rude witticisms on the goose and gridiron.

Gooseberry, subs. (common).—1. A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. [Perhaps from Gooseberry Fool; as in Goldsmith’s Retaliation:—‘And by the same rule Magnanimous Goldsmith’s a gooseberry fool.’]

2. (common).—A chaperon; one who takes third place to save appearances or play propriety (q.v.); a daisy- or gooseberry-picker.

3. (common).—A marvellous tale; a munchausen (q.v.); a flim-flam. Also gigantic, and giant goosberry. Hence Gooseberry season = the dull time of journalism, when the appearance of monstrous vegetables, sea serpents, showers of frogs, and other portents is chronicled in default of news. Cf., silly season (q.v.).

1870. Figaro, 22 June. If we have no big gooseberries this season, we have at least a big salmon.

1871. Graphic, 22 Apr. Mr. Tupper excited a great deal of incredulity a few years ago by announcing in the prodigious goosberry season that he had discovered an ancient Roman coin embedded in the heart of an oak tree.

1885. Ill. London News, 18 July, p. 50, c. 2. Amongst journalists there is popularly known what they call ‘the giant gooseberry season,’ the meaning of which is, that when Parliament has risen and the Law Courts are shut and subjects on which to write become scarce, adventurous spirits are apt to discourse in their newspapers of fruit of abnormal size, and other natural prodigies, which, according to current banter, exist only in their own imagination.

4. in. pl. (venery).—The testicles. For synonyms, see Cods.

To play (or do) gooseberry, verb. phr. (common).—To play propriety; also to sit third in a hansom.

1877. Hawley Smart, Play or Pay. ch. vi. To take care of a pretty girl, ... with a sister to do gooseberry.

1880. G. R. Sims, Jeph, p. 8. Mamma always played gooseberry on these occasions.

1883. Globe, 6 July, p. 1, c. 5. They will be compelled in self-defence to have a shorthand writer present to play gooseberry, and to be able to furnish proof that their discourse was innocent.

1892. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Ladies’ Gallery, p. 51. Well, I am not a good hand at playing gooseberry, and I don’t like spoiling sport.

To play old gooseberry, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To play the deuce; to upset or spoil; to throw everything into confusion; but see quot. 1811. Old Gooseberry = The devil (see Skipper). [See Notes and Queries, 2 S x., 307, 376; xii., 336.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Gooseberry. He played up old gooseberry among them; said of a person who, by force or threats, suddenly puts an end to a riot or disturbance.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 22. Will play up old gooseberry soon with them all.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf. To play up gooseberry; children romping about the house or the parent rating them over.

1837. Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jacke of Shrewsberrie.’ There’s a pretty to-do! All the people of Shrewsbury playing old gooseberry With your choice bits of taste and virtù.

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. lxii. Lay on like old gooseberry.

1892. Globe, 12 July, p. 2, c. 2. We all know his capacity for playing old goosberry with things in general.

Gooseberry-eyed, adj. (old).—Grey-eyed. (Lex. Bal., 1811).

Gooseberry-grinder, subs. (old).—The breech. For synonyms, see Monocular eyeglass.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gooseberry-grinder, s.v. Ask Bogey the gooseberry-grinder, ask mine a——e.

Gooseberry Lay, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Stealing linen from a line.

Gooseberry-picker, subs. (colloquial).—1. A person whose labour profits, and is credited to, another; a ghost (q.v.).

2. (common).—A chaperon. See Gooseberry, subs. sense 2.

1884. Cornhill Mag., Dec., p. 578. The good host experienced the sensations of being gooseberry-picker. He sat under a tree, ate, drank, smoked, and finally fell asleep, whilst the Prince and Ottilie explored the Gaulish city and the convent.

Gooseberry-pudding, subs. (rhyming).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Gooseberry-wig, subs. (old).—A large frizzled wig. ‘Perhaps,’ says Grose (s.v.), ‘from a supposed likeness to a gooseberry bush.’

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Goosecap, subs. (common).—A booby, male or female; a noodle. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super. in wks. II., 72. A foole, an idiot, a dolt, a goose-capp, an asse, and soe fourth.

1604. Dekker, Honest Wh. in wks. (1873), ii., 81. Out, you gulles, you goose-caps, you gudgeon-eaters!

1622. Beaumont and Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, iv., 4. Why, what a goose-cap wouldst thou make me!

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, Act i. My husband is such a goose-cap that I can’t get no good out of him at home or abroad.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A silly fellow or woman.

Goose- (or Goose’s) Egg, subs. (American).—No score. Also Gooser. See Duck.

1886. New York Times, July. With nine unpalatable goose-eggs in their contest.

1889. Modern Society, 12 Oct., p. 1264. An enthusiastic lady cricketer has just bowled over Mr. Jones in a matrimonial match. ‘No, Mr. Brown, I cannot marry you. You score a gooser this time.’

Goose-flesh (or Goose-skin), subs. (colloquial).—A peculiar tingling of the skin produced by cold, fear, etc.; the sensation described as ‘cold water down the back’; the creeps (q.v.).

1824. Miss Ferrier, Inheritance, ch. ii. Her skin began to rise into what is vulgarly termed goose-skin.

Goose-gog (or Goose-gob), subs. (common).—A gooseberry.

Goose-grease, subs. phr. (venery).—A woman’s spendings (q.v.). See Goose, subs., sense 6.

Goose-month, subs. (old).—The lying-in month. Cf., Gander-month.

Goose-persuader, subs. (common).—A tailor. For synonyms, see Snip.

Gooser, subs. (popular).—1. A settler; a knock-out blow; the act of death. See Dig and Wipe.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. III., p. 133. It was he who saved my life. If it hadn’t been for him it would have been a gooser with me.

1857. Morning Chronicle, 9 Sept. In the event of my getting a gooser.

2. (sporting).—No score; a goose-egg (q.v.).

3. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Goose-Riding. See Gander-pulling.

Goose’s Gazette, subs. (old).—A lying story; a flim-flam tale; that is, a piece of reading for a goose, sense 2.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. Lieutenant Brown ... told him some goose’s gazette about his being taken in a skirmish with the land-sharks.

Goose-shearer, subs. (common).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger. [From goose = simpleton + shearer = a cheater.]

Goose’s-neck, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Goose-step, subs. (common).—Balancing on one foot and moving the other back and forwards without taking a step. [A preliminary in military drill, the pons asinorum of the raw recruit.] Also (more loosely) ‘marking time’: that is, lifting the feet alternately without advancing.

1840. Tate’s Mag., Sept., p. 607. Whether the remarkable evolution [the goose step] was called ... from the nature of the operation requiring the exhibitor to stand on one leg, in imitation of the above-named animal, I am totally at a loss to say.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. He won his spurs at Punchestown before he had mastered the goose step.

Goose-turd Green, adj. (old).—A light-yellowish green.—Cotgrave.

Goosey-gander, subs. (common).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Goosing-slum, subs. (American).—A brothel. [Goosing = womanizing; also copulating.] For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Gopher, subs. (American).—1. A young thief; especially a boy employed by burglars to enter houses through windows, skylights, etc. [In natural history gopher = a burrowing squirrel.]

2. (Southern States).—A rude wooden plough.

Goree, subs. (old).—Money; specifically gold or gold-dust. From Fort Goree on the Gold Coast. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1696. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gorge, subs. (vulgar).—1. A heavy meal; a tuck-in (q.v.); a blow-out (q.v.).

1553. Wilson, Arte of Rhetorique, p. 112. The counseler heareth causes with lesse pain being emptie, then he shal be able after a ful gorge.

1883. Daily News, March 24, p. 3, c. 4. The keeper tries these brutes once a week to see whether they are ready for a gorge, and the python has been known to devour eight ducks at one meal, feathers and all, before signifying enough.

2. (theatrical).—A manager; an abbreviation of gorger (q.v.).

Verb (vulgar).—To eat voraciously; also to gulp as a fish does when it swallows (or gorges) a bait. For synonyms, see Wolf.

1572. Satirical Poems, Scottish Text Society, 1889–91, ‘Lamentacioun,’ ii., 232. Gorged waters ever greater grows.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, iii., 2. Mar. Come, have patience If you will dispense a little with your worship, And sit with the waiting women, you’ll have dumpling, Woodcock, and butter’d toasts too. Greedy. This revives me: I will gorge there sufficiently.

1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, Act i., Sc. 1. Here men o’ th’ shop can gorge their musty maws With the delicious capon, and fat limbs of mutton.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gorge (v.), to eat over-much, to cram, glut, or fill unreasonably.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxxiv., p. 336. No man had spoken a word; every one had been intent, as usual, on his own private gorging; and the greater part of the company were decidedly dirty feeders.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. iii. Who might be such a fine race, if they would only not gorge their food so rapidly.

Gorger, subs. (vulgar).—1. A voracious eater; a scruncher (q.v.). Rotten gorger = a lad who hangs about Covent Garden eating refuse fruit.

2. (common).—A well-dressed man; a gentleman. [Gypsy, gorgio = gentlemen.] Fr., un gratiné.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Mung the gorger; beg child beg, of the gentleman.

3. (common).—An employer; a principal: especially the manager of a theatre. [Perhaps because he takes (or gorges) all the fat (q.v.).] Also cully-gorger. Fr., amendier.

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. The gorger’s awful coally on his own slumming, eh?... I mean to say that our friend the manager is rather sweet upon his own acting.

4. (old).—A neckerchief. [From gorge = throat.]

1320–30. Gawaine, 957. That other wyth a gorger watz gored ouer the swyre.

Gorgonzola Hall, subs. phr. (Stock Exchange).—Formerly the New Hall; now the corporation generally. [From the colour of the marble.]

1887. Atkin, House Scraps, Gorgonzola Hall got turned into New Billingsgate.

Gorm, verb. (American University).—To gorge (q.v.). For synonyms, see Wolf.

I’m gormed, phr. (popular).—A profane oath. See Gaum.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. iii. If it [his generosity] were ever referred to, ... he struck the table a heavy blow with his right hand (had split it on one such occasion), and swore a dreadful oath that he would be gormed if he didn’t cut and run for good, if it was ever mentioned again.

1883. Punch, May 19, p. 230, c. 2. Why, of course I hardly expects to be believed, but I’m gormed if there was more than six of one and half-a-dozen of the other.

1884. Julian Sturgis, in Longman’s Mag., iii., 623. ‘Gormed if there ain’t that old parson again!’ cried Henry, with enthusiasm.

Gormagon, subs. (old).—See quots.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A monster with six eyes, three mouths, four arms, eight legs, five on one side and three on the other, three arses, two tarses, and a cunt upon its back; a man on horseback with a woman behind him.

1892. Fennell, Stanford Dict., s.v., Gormagon ... a member of an English Secret Society which existed in the second quarter of 18 c.

Gormy-ruddles, subs. (common).—The intestines.

Gorram (or Goram).—See By Goldam.

Gorry.—See By Gorry!

Goschens, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The 2¾ per cent. Government Stock created by Mr. Goschen in 1888.

1889. Man of the World, 29 June. The nickname Goschens is going out of fashion. The new 2¾ stock is now called by the old name.

1891. Punch, 4 Apr. Securities yielding a larger return than 2¾ Goschens.

Gosh, see by gosh.

Gospel, subs. (colloquial).—1. Anything offered as absolutely true. Also gospel-truth.

1862. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. She is a good young woman, and a honest young woman in her way, and what she says this night about her brother is gospel-truth.

1864. Derby Day, p. 35. Apparently unable to resist the powerful influences brought to bear upon him, he replied, in a tone which carried the impress of veracity with it, ‘Gospel.’

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 175. It was true as gospel.

To do gospel, verb. phr. (common).—To go to church.

Gospel-gab, subs. (common).—Insincere talk concerning religion; cant.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 146. Yes; when I saw I was in for it, I told them my name and all about my father without any reserve; that, with a little gospel-gab and howling penitence, got the church people interested in me, and so I was let off easily.

Gospel-Grinder (-postillion, -sharp, or -shark), subs. (common).—A clergyman or missionary. For synonyms, see devil-dodger and sky-pilot;—

French Synonyms.—La forêt noire (thieves’ = the black forest); une entonne ramparte (thieves’); entonner = to intone; une antiffle (thieves’); une cavée (thieves’ = a black hole); une chique (thieves’).

Spanish Synonym.—Salud.

Italian Synonyms.—Balza; balzana.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 19. ‘A what!’ ‘Gospel-sharp—parson.’ ‘Oh! why did you not say so before? I am a clergyman—a parson.’

1877. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. viii. Else we should be as stagnant as a Connecticut Gospel-grinder in his village location.

Gospeller, subs. (colloquial).—An Evangelist preacher; in contempt. Also Hot-gospeller (= a preaching fanatic.)

Gospel-mill (or -shop), subs. (common).—A church or chapel. Also schism-shop and doxology-works (q.v.).

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 88. From Whitfield and Romaine to Pope John range; Each Gospel-shop ringing a daily change.

1791. Life of J. Lackington, Letter xix. As soon as I had procured a lodging and work my next enquiry was for Mr. Wesley’s Gospel-shops.

1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, pt. II., ch. ii., p. 13. On about that ere gospel-shop as you was agoin for to crack last week.

1869. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 17, 18. Are you the duck that runs the gospel-mill next door.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 35. It’s all gospel-shop gruel.

Goss (or Gossamer), subs. (common).—A hat. (At first a make of peculiar lightness called a four-and-nine (q.v.).) In quot. 1836 = a white hat. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xii. ‘That’s one thing, and every hole lets in some air, that’s another—wentilation gossamer I calls it.’ On the delivery of this sentiment, Mr. Weller smiled agreeably upon the assembled Pickwickians.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. ix., p. 294. Another passenger inquired whether the hat was ‘a vashing beaver von?’ while a fourth inquired whether it was ‘a gossamer ventilator?’

1851. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 49. I have sold hats from 6d. to 3s. 6d., but very seldom 3s. 6d. The 3s. 6d. ones would wear out two new gossamers, I know.

1884. A. Lang, Much Darker Days, p. 25. Yes, the white hat, lying there all battered and crushed on the white snow, must be the hat of Sir Runan! ... who else would wear the gay gossamer of July in stormy December?

1888. Harper’s Magazine, LXXVII., 139. Flinging off his gossamer and hanging it up to drip into the pan of the hat rack.

To give (or get) goss, verb. phr. (American).—To requite an injury; to kill; to go strong; to get an opportunity; to put in big licks (q.v.). Sometimes ejaculatory, as ‘Give me goss and let me rip!’

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 75. Gin him goss without sweetin.

1847. Darley, Drama in Porterville, p. 114. Divers hints passed from one to another among the more excitable citizens, that ‘Old Sol’ was going to get goss, sure.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 115. Shouts of ‘Fair play,’ ‘Turn ’em out,’ ‘Give him goss,’ were heard on all sides.

a. 1852. Traits of American Humour, II., 261. Ef I don’t, the old man will give me goss when I go back.

Gossoon, subs. (colloquial Irish).—A boy. [A corruption of Fr., garçon = a boy.]

Gotch-gutted, adj. (old).—Pot-bellied; ‘a gotch in Norfolk, signifying a pitcher or large round jug.’—Grose.

Got ’em Bad, phr. (common).—A superlative of earnestness or excessiveness: e.g., anyone doing his work thoroughly, a horse straining every nerve, a very sick person, especially a patient in the horrors (q.v.), is said to have got ’em bad.

Got ’em On (or All On), phr. (common).—Dressed in the height of fashion. See Rigged Out.

1880. Punch, 28 Aug., p. 90.

188(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘’Arry.’ Where are you going on Sunday, ’Arry, now you’ve got ’em on?

188(?). Broadside Ballad. ‘He’s got ’em on.’

Goth, subs. (common).—A frumpish or uncultured person; one behind the times or ignorant of the ways of society.

1712. Spectator, No. 367. But I shall never sink this paper so far as to engage with Goths and Vandals.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxi. You yourself are a Goth ... to treat with such disrespect a production which ... will, when finished, be a masterpiece of its kind.

1865. Ouida, Strathmore, ch. ii. For God’s sake don’t suppose me such a Goth that I should fall in love with a dairymaid, Strath!

Gotham, subs. (common).—New York City. Gothamite, a New Yorker. [First used by Washington Irving in Salmagundi (1807).]

1852. Jutson, Mysteries of New York. ch. xiii. One of the vilest of all hells in Gotham.

1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 37. The first thing, as a general rule, that a young Gothamite does is to get a horse.

Gothic, adj. (old).—See Goth.

1700. Congreve, The Way of the World, iv. 4. Ah, rustic, ruder than Gothic!

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 8. Why, with his usual Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig to convert it into a tête for my own wearing.

Go-to-meeting Bags (or Clothes, Dress, etc.), subs. phr. (common).—Best clothes. [As worn on Sundays, or holiday occasions.]

1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 243 (Ed. 1862). If he hadn’t his go-to-meetin’ dress and looks on this day to the jury, it’s a pity.

1854. Bradley, Verdant Green, Pt. II., p. 5. Besides his black go-to-meeting bags please to observe the peculiarity, etc.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays, pt. II., ch. v. I want to give you a true picture of what every-day school life was in my time, and not a kid-glove and go-to-meeting-coat picture.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago. Looks right well in her go-to-meeting clothes.

Gouge, subs. (American).—An imposture; a swindle; a method of cheating.

1845. New York Tribune, 10 Dec. R—— and H—— will probably receive from Mr. Polk’s administration $100,000 more than respectable printers would have done the work for. There is a clean, plain gouge of this sum out of the people’s strong box.

Verb. (old).—1. Grose says, ‘To squeeze out a man’s eye with the thumb, a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.’

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 49. His eyes having been gouged in a mountain fray.

2. (American).—To defraud.

1845. New York Tribune, 26 Nov. Very well, gentlemen! gouge Mr. Crosby out of the seat, if you think it wholesome to do it.

1874. W. D. Howells, Foregone Conclusions, ch. iii. The man’s a perfect Jew—or a perfect Christian, one ought to say in Venice; we true believers do gouge so much more infamously here.

1885. Bret Harte, A Ship of ’49, ch. i. He’s regularly gouged me in that ’ere horsehair spekilation.

Gouger, subs. (American).—A cheat; a swindler. For synonyms, see Rook.

Gouging, subs. (American).—Cheating.

Goujeers. See Goodyear.

Gourd, subs. (old).—False dice with a cavity within, which in Fullams (q.v.) was filled with lead to give a bias. See also High-men and Low-men.

1544. Ascham, Toxophylus. What false dyse use they? as dyse stopped with quicksilver and heares, dyse of vauntage, flattes, gourds, to chop and chaunge when they liste.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd and fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.

1616. Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornful Lady, iv. And thy dry bones can reach at nothing now But gourds or nine-pins; pray go fetch a trencher, go.

Gourock Ham, subs. (common).—A salt herring (Gourock was formerly a great fishing village). For synonyms, see Glasgow Magistrate.

Government-man, subs. (old Australian).—A convict.

1864. Smythe, Ten Months in Fiji Islands, q.v.

1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 262, c. 3. They never settle down as thousands of our Government men cheerfully did in Australia after they had their freedom.

Government-securities, subs. (common).—Handcuffs; fetters generally. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Government-signpost, subs. (old).—The gallows. For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1887. A. Barrère, Argot and Slang, p. 272. Montagne du géant. Fr. (obsolete), gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.

Governor (or Guv), subs. (common).—1. A father. Also relieving officer; old ’un; pater; nibso; and his nibs. Applied to elderly people in general. Fr., le géniteur and l’ancien (= the old ’un).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ‘You’re quite certain it was them, governor?’ inquired Mr. Weller, junior. ‘Quite, Sammy, quite,’ replied his father.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 28. But—mind! don’t tell the governor!

1852. Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father: Speaking to him, say ‘Guvnor,’ or ‘Old Strike-a-light;’ of him, ‘The old un.’

1859. Witty Political Portraits, p. 111. Unconscious of the constitutional delusions on which his governor has thrived.

1889. Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ‘The Governor’ is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ‘The Boss,’ ‘The Old Man,’ or ‘The Relieving Officer.’

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. It was mortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when the guv. was out of the way.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 118. The Governor is in an awful funk about him.

2. (common).—A mode of address to strangers. Fr., bourgeois.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second Series). ‘At the Guelph Exhibition.’ Right, guvnor; we’ll come.

3. (colloquial).—A master or superior; an employer.

English Synonyms.—Boss; captain of the waiters; captain; chief; colonel; commander; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook and bottle-washer; gorger; omee; rum-cull.

French Synonyms.—Le pantriot (popular and thieves’: also = a young nincompoop); le, or la, pâte (popular: properly paste or dough); le naïf (printers’: obsolete); le herz or hers (thieves’: obviously from the German); le loncegué (thieves’: Fr., back-slang; = gonce, itself a slang term for a man); le galeux (popular: = one with the itch); le grêle (popular: specifically a master-tailor); le singe (= monkey); le troploc; le nourisseur (= the grubber); l’ogre (specifically a fence); le notaire (= publican); le patron (colloquial: = governor).

Italian Synonyms.—Chielmiero (vulgar).

Governor’s-stiff, subs. (American).—A pardon.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gower-street Dialect. See Medical Greek.

Gowk, subs. (prison).—A simpleton. (Scots’ gowk = a cuckoo). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. x. ‘Hout awa’, ye auld gowk,’ said Jenny Rintherout.

To hunt the gowk, verb. phr. (common).—To go on a fool’s errand.

Gowler, subs. (old).—A dog; specifically a howler.

Gown, subs. (Winchester College)—1. Coarse brown paper. (obsolete).

2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from the town (q.v.)., e.g., Town and Gown.

1847. Thackeray, Punch’s Prize Novelists, ‘Codlingsby,’ p. 232. From the Addenbrooke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen—the battle raged, and the Gown had the worst of the fight.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. When Gown was absent, Town was miserable.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3. Town and Gown joined in harmony.

Gownsman (also Gown), subs. (university).—A student.

1800. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 96. A battle between the gownsmen and townspeople ... in spite of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs of gownsmen, frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen ... were met by the gownsmen with settled steady pluck.

Grab, subs. (vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1st S., ch. viii. He makes a grab at me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist.

2. (American).—A robbery; a steal (q.v.). Cf., Grab-gains.

3. (old).—A body-stealer; a resurrectionist.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xvi. Sir ——’s dressers and myself, with an experienced grab—that is to say, a professional resurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough.

4. (gamesters’).—A boisterous game at cards.

Verb (vulgar).—1. To Pinch (q.v.); to seize; to apprehend; to snatch or steal. Grabbed = arrested.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. The pigs grabbed the kiddy for a crack.

1818. Maginn, Vidocq’s Song. Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen, Or be grabbed by the beaks we may.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, Wk. I., ch. x. There, man, grab the money, it’s on the table.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xiii. Do you want to be grabbed, stupid?

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. Don’t muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You’ll need all your strength to grab him.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I was grabbed for an attempt on a gentleman’s pocket.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house I grabbed the key, and so they couldn’t lock it nohow.

1886. Baring Gould, Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are some folks ... so grasping that if they touch a farthing will grab a pound.

2. (thieves’).—To hold on; to get along; to live.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage to grab on somehow.

Grab-all, subs. (colloquial).—1. An avaricious person; a greedy-guts (q.v.).

1872. Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptible grab-alls of that government which professes to study the people’s interest those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid for.

2. (colloquial).—A bag to carry odds and ends, parcels, books, and so forth.

Grabber, subs. (common).—In. pl., the hands. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

Grabble, verb. (old).—1. To seize: a frequent form of grab (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. To grabble the bit; to seize any one’s money.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. You grabble the goose-cap and I’ll frisk his pokes.

2. (venery).—To grope; to fumble; to fam (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., 193. When Nelly, though he teized her, And grabbled her and squeezed her.

Grabby, subs. (military).—An infantry-man. [Used in contempt by the mounted arm.] Fr., marionnette.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. x. ‘Is it a good regiment? How jolly to dine at mess every day!’ ‘I shouldn’t like to be a grabby though’ (this from the Dandy); ‘and after all, I’d rather be a private in the cavalry than an officer in the regiment of feet!’

Grab-gains, subs. (thieves’).—The trick of snatching a purse, etc., and making off.

Grab-game (or -coup, or -racket), subs. (old).—A mode of swindling: the sharpers start by betting among themselves; then the by-standers are induced to join; then stakes are deposited; lastly, there is a row, when one of the gang grabs the stakes, and decamps. But see quot., 1823.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Grab-coup, modern practice of gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated, or done, takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or such as may be down for the play, and grabs as much as possible, pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house.

18(?). Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. ‘I’ll bear you company. What d’ye say to that?’ ‘Just as you like,’ responded his two companions, ‘that is provided you won’t attempt the grab game on us.’

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 219. ‘Now, boss!’ he cried, not unkindly, ‘is this to be run shipshape; or is it a Dutch grab-racket?’

Grace-card, subs. (Irish).—The Six of Hearts. [For origin see N. and Q., 5th Series, iv., 137].

Gracemans, subs. (old).—Grace-church Street Market.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (W. Club’s Rept., 1874). Gracemans, Gratious Streete market.

Graduate, subs. (turf).—1. A horse that has been run.

2. (colloquial).—An adept; an artful member (q.v.).

3. (venery).—An unmarried woman who has taken her degree in carnal lore.

Verb. (colloquial).—To seek and acquire experience: in life, love, society, or trade; and so on.

Gradus, subs. (gamesters’).—A mode of cheating: a particular card is so placed by the shuffler that when he hands the pack to be cut, it projects a little beyond the rest; the chance being that it is the turn-up. Also the step (q.v.). [From the Latin.]

Gradus-ad-parnassum, subs. (old literary).—The treadmill. For synonyms, see Wheel-of-life.

Graft, subs. (common).—Work; employment; lay (q.v.).: e.g. What graft are you on now? Great-graft = profitable labour; good biz (q.v.). Also Grafting and Elbow-grease.

French Synonyms.—Le bastimage (thieves’); le goupinage (thieves’); la laine (tailors’); le maquillage (thieves’); le massage (popular); la masse; le mèche (printers’).

1878. Graphic, 6 July, p. 2. According to the well-known maxim in the building trade, ‘Scotch masons, Welsh blacksmiths, English bricklayers, Irish labourers’.... Perhaps in a generation or two Paddy will fail us. He will have become too refined for hard grafting.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you bag At my graft, no matter what.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 417, c. 1. Millbank for thick shins and graft at the pump.

Verb (common).—1. To work. Fr., bausser; membrer.

2. (American).—To steal.

3. (old).—To cuckold; to plant horns.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

4. (American).—To sole old boots. Cf., Goose and Translate.

Grampus, subs. (colloquial).—A fat man. For synonyms, see Forty-guts.

To blow the Grampus. (nautical).—To drench; and (common), to sport in the water.

Grand, subs. (colloquial).—Short for ‘grand piano.’

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. A precocious young relative is now about to take the daïs. There she stands, violin in hand, and there begins the preliminary scramble on the hired grand.

Adj. (colloquial).—A general superlative.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 19. Wot we want in a picter is flavour and ‘fetch,’ and yours give it me grand.

To do the Grand, verb. phr. (common).—To put on airs. For synonyms, see Lardy-dah.

Grand Bounce. See Bounce.

Grandmother. To see one’s grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To have a nightmare.

To see (or have) one’s grandmother (or little friend, or auntie) with one. verb. phr. (common).—To have the menstrual discharge. See Flag.

To shoot one’s grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To be mistaken; to have found a mare’s nest; to be disappointed. Commonly ‘You’ve shot your grannie.’

To teach one’s grandmother (or grannie) how to suck eggs, verb. phr. (common).—To instruct an expert in his own particular line of business; to talk old to one’s seniors.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1892. Globe, 27 Jan., p. 1, c. 5. Evidently he did not consider, as Englishmen seem to do, that grandmothers possess no more knowledge than is required to efficiently suck eggs.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 210. ‘Confound you stupid, what do you take me for, that you try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.’

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 77. She’s a teaching ’er grandmother, she is, although she’s a littery swell.

My grandmother’s review. subs. phr. (obsolete).—The British Review. [The nickname was Lord Byron’s.]

Grand-strut, subs. (old).—The Broad Walk in Hyde Park.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 4. We’ll start first to the show shop of the metropolis, Hyde Park! promenade it down the grand strut.

Granger, subs. (American political).—1. A member of the Farmers’ Alliance; a secret society, nominally non-political, but really taking a hand in politics when occasion offered to favour agricultural interests. [During the decade of years ending 1870, it attained to great numerical strength, and extended throughout the United States.] See Agricultural Wheel.

2. (American).—Hence, a farmer; a countryman; anyone from the rural districts. For synonyms, see Joskin.

Grangerise, verb. (literary).—To fill out a book with portraits, landscapes, title-pages, and illustrations generally not done for it.

1883. Sala, Living Wonders, p. 497. Mr. Ashton’s Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne ... would be a capital book to grangerize.

Grangerism, subs. (literary).—The practice of illustrating a book with engravings, etc., from other sources. [From the practice of illustrating Granger’s Bibliographical History of England.]

1883. Saturday Review, Jan. 27, p. 123, c. 2. Grangerism, as the innocent may need to be told, is the pernicious vice of cutting plates and title-pages out of many books to illustrate one book.

Grangerite, subs. (literary).—A practitioner in grangerism (q.v.).

1890. ‘Grangerising,’ in Cornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Another favourite subject, and suitable also for the Grangerite, is ‘Boswell’s Johnson.’ It must be admitted that this delightful book may gain a fresh chance by being thus treated, but ‘within the limits of becoming grangerism.’

Grannam, subs. (old). Corn. [From the Latin.]—Fr., le grenu, or grelu. It., re di granata; staffile; corniole. Sp., grito.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Grannam, corne.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). Granmer, corne.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874). Grannam, corn.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., Grannam, c. corn.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. ‘The Strowling Mort.’ Grannam ever filled my sack.

Grannam’s-gold. subs. (old).—Wealth inherited. [Grannam = grandmother: cf., Beaumont and Fletcher, Lover’s Progress, iv., 1. ‘Ghosts never walk till after midnight, if I may believe my grannam.’]

Granny, subs. (nautical).—1. A bad knot with the second tie across; as opposed to a reef knot in which the end and outer part are in line. Also Granny’s Knot or Granny’s Bend.

2. (common).—Conceit of superior knowledge.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 404. To take the granny off them as has white hands.

Verb (thieves’).—To know; to recognise. Also to swindle.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 461. The shallow got so grannied in London.

Ibid., p. 340. If they granny the manley (perceive the signature) of a brother officer or friend.

Grant. To grant the favour, verb. phr. (venery).—To confer the sexual embrace; to spread (q.v.).

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi. 58. If at last she grants the favour, And consents to be undone.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. 7. I ... never would grant the favour to any man till I had drunk a heavy glass with him.

Grape-shot, adj. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Grape-vine, subs. (American).—A hold in wrestling.

Grape-vine Telegraph, subs. phr. (American).—News mysteriously conveyed. [During the Civil War bogus reports from the front were said to be by the Grape-vine Telegraph.] Also Clothes-line Telegraph.

Grapple, subs. (common).—The hand. Also grappler. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1852. Hazel, Yankee Jack, p. 9. Give us your grappler on that, old fellow.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. Anything she once put her grapples on she slipped inside.

Grapple-the-rails, subs. (Irish).—Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks and Old Man’s Milk.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grapple-the-rails, a cant name used in Ireland for whiskey.

Grappling-irons (or -hooks), subs. (old).—1. Handcuffs. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1830. Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, i., 4. I hope the bailiffs have not laid their grappling irons on young Miles.

2. (nautical).—The fingers. For synonyms, see Fork. Also Grapplers and Grappling-Hooks.

Grass, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—1. Vegetables. Cf., bunny-grub. Fr., gargousses de la canonnière.

2. (American).—Fresh mint.

3. (common).—Short for sparrow-grass (q.v.) = asparagus.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He sold grass, and such things as cost money.

4. (Australian printers’).—A temporary hand on a newspaper; hence the proverb, ‘a grass on news waits dead men’s shoes.’ Cf., Grass-hand = a raw worker, or green hand.

a. 1889. Fitzgerald, Printers’ Proverbs, quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant. Why are the grass, or casual news hands not put on a more comfortable footing?

Verb (pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown); to bring (or be brought) to ground. Hence, to knock down; to defeat; to kill.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was ultimately grassed.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should see him grassed.

1846. Dickens, Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey One, and heavily grassed.

1881. Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of twenty-five, while his opponent had grassed seventeen out of the same number.

1883. W. Besant, All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example of pride before a fall; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he was grassed.

1888. Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minute grassed his man with a swinging right-hander.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I was grassed, so I took his measurement.

1892. F. Anstey, Voces Populi. ‘The Riding-Class,’ p. 108. Didn’t get grassed, did you?

To give grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To yield.

To go to grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To abscond; to disappear. Also to hunt grass.

2. (common).—To fall sprawling; to be ruined; to die.

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 237. Elias was sent to grass to rise no more off it.

3. (common).—To waste away (as of limbs).

To hunt grass, verb. phr. (common).—1. To decamp.

2. (cricket).—To field; to hunt leather (q.v.).

3. (American). To fall; to go to ground; hence, to be puzzled or bewildered.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 21. You’re most too many for me, you know. When you get in with your left I hunt grass every time.

To cut one’s own grass. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To earn one’s own living.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 242. ‘Cut her own grass! Good gracious! what is that!’ I asked. ‘Why, purvide her own chump—earn her own living,’ the old man replied.

To be sent to grass. verb. phr. (University).—To be rusticated; to receive a travelling scholarship (q.v.).

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near rustication [at Cambridge] merely for kicking up a row after a beakering party. ‘Soho, Jack!’ briskly rejoined another, ‘almost presented with a travelling fellowship? very nigh being sent to grass, hey?’

Go to grass! phr. (common).—Be off! You be hanged! Go to hell!

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 95. A gentleman who was swimming about, upon being refused, declared that he might go to grass with his old canoe, for he didn’t think it would be much of a shower, anyhow.

1865. Bacon, Handbook of America, p. 363. Go to grass! be off! get out!

To let the grass grow under one’s feet, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To proceed or work leisurely. Fr., limer.

To take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass, subs. phr. (venery).—To take a man. [Nebuchadnezzar = penis.] For synonyms, see Greens.

Grass-comber, subs. (nautical).—A countryman shipped as a sailor.

1886. W. Besant, World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. Formerly, Jack would have replied to this sally that, d’ye see, Luke was a grass comber and a land swab, but that for himself, there was no tea aboard ship, and a glass of punch or a bowl of flip was worth all the tea ever brought from China.

Grasser, subs. (sporting).—A fall.

Grasshopper, subs. (common).—1. A waiter at a tea-garden.

2. (rhyming).—A policeman, or copper (q.v.).

3. (thieves’).—A thief. See Gunner.

1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Jan., p. 4., c. 3. Quite a ‘school’ of youthful grasshoppers are in possession of one corner of the ice, but on the Westminster side of the park ’pon bridge there is a good sprinkling of old hands.

Grassing, subs. (printers’).—Casual work away from the office. See Smouting.

Grassville, subs. (old).—The country; cf., Daisyville.

Grass-widow, subs. (old).—1. An unmarried mother; a deserted mistress. See Barrack-hack and Tart.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Widow’s weeds, a grass-widow, one that pretends to have been married, but never was, yet has children.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Widow’s weeds; a grass-widow; a discarded mistress.

2. (colloquial).—A married woman temporarily separated from her husband.

[The usually accepted derivation that grass = Fr., grâce is doubtful. Hall (says J. C. Atkinson, in Glossary of Cleveland Words) gives as the definition of this word ‘an unmarried woman who has had a child’; in Moor’s Suffolk Words and Phrases, grace-widow, ‘a woman who has had a child for her cradle ere she has had a husband for her bed’; and corresponding with this is the N. S. or Low Ger., gras-wedewe. Again, Sw. D., gras-anka, or -enka = grass-widow, occurs in the same sense as with us: ‘a low, dissolute, unmarried woman living by herself.’ The original meaning of the word seems to have been ‘a woman whose husband is away,’ either travelling or living apart. The people of Belgium call a woman of this description haeck-wedewe, from haecken, to feel strong desire.... It seems probable, therefore, from the etymology, taken in connection with the Clevel. signification, that our word may rather be from the Scand. source than from the German; only with a translation of the word enka into its English equivalent. Dan. D., graesenka, is a female whose betrothed lover (fastman) is dead; nearly equivalent to which is German, strohwittwe, literally straw-widow. See N. and Q. 6 S. viii., 268, 414; x. 333, 436, 526; xi. 78, 178.]

English Synonyms.—Californian widow; widow-bewitched; wife in water colours.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act iii. If the worst come to the worst,—I’ll turn my wife to grass—I have already a deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedl’d out of her.

1877. Chamb. Journal, 12 Mar., p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known in India—and never went to the hills as a grass-widow.

1878. London, a grass-widow. And so, you see, it comes to pass That she’s a widow out at grass And happy in her freedom.

1882. Saturday Review, 11 Feb. She is a grass-widow, her husband is something in some Indian service.

1885. W. Black, White Heather, ch. xli. Mrs. Lalor, a grass-widow who was kind enough to play chaperon to the young people, but whose effective black eyes had a little trick of roving on their own account.

1889. Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. She had taken up her residence at a house in Sinclair-road, Kensington, where she passed as a grass-widow. She represented that her husband was engaged in mercantile pursuits.

Grass-widower, subs. (common).—A man away from his wife.

1886. New York Evening Post, 22 May. All the grass-widowers and unmarried men.

Gravel, verb. (old).—1. To confound; to puzzle; to floor (q.v.).

1593. G. Harvey, Pierus Supererog, in wks. II., 296. The finest intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would undoubtedly have been gravelled in the execution of that rash attempt.

1597. Hall, Satires, III., vi., 14. So long he drinks, till the black caravell Stands still fast gravelled on the mud of hell.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It. When you were gravelled for lack of matter.

1604. Marlowe, Faustus, Act i., Sc. 1. And I, that have with concise syllogisms gravell’d the pastors of the German church.

1659. Torriano, Vocabulario, s.v.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marr-all, Act iii. Warn. He’s gravelled, and I must help him out.

1663. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that art, which almost gravels me.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhat gravelled for an answer to Alaric’s earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request was repeated.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would be gravelled at that, for we lacked the means of writing in that desert.

1893. National Observer, 11 Feb., p. 321. In truth to talk of Burns as the apotheosis of Knox is really to gravel and confound your readers; and but for the context one might be suspected that the innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.

2. (American).—To go against the grain.

1887. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands. It gravels me to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.

Gravel-crusher, subs. (military).—A soldier doing defaulter’s drill.

Gravel-grinder, subs. (popular).—A drunkard. For synonyms, see Lushington.

Gravel-rash, subs. (colloquial).—The lacerations caused by a fall.

To have the gravel rash, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be reeling drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Gravesend-bus, subs. (common).—A hearse.

Gravesend-sweetmeats, subs. (popular).—Shrimps.

Gravesend-twins, subs. (common).—Solid particles of sewage.

Grave-yard, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

To keep a private grave-yard, verb. phr. (American).—To affect ferocity; to bluster.

Gravy, subs. (venery).—The sexual discharge; the spendings (q.v.) both male and female. [Hence gravy-giver = the penis and the female pudendum; and gravy-maker = the female pudendum. Hence, too, to give one’s gravy = to spend (q.v.). Cf., Beef and Mutton.]

d. 1796. Burns, ‘Dainty Davie,’ in Merry Muses. I wot he cam atween my thie, An’ creeshed it weel wi’ gravy.

Gravy-eye, subs. (common).—A derisive epithet: e.g., Well Old gravy-eye.

Grawler, subs. (old).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary p. 62. Not so much as would sweeten a grawler in the whole of them.

Gray, subs. (thieves’).—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails; a pony (q.v.).

1828. G. Smeeton, Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of grays (gaffing-coins).

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II., p. 154. Some, if they can, will cheat, by means of a half-penny with a head or a tail on both sides, called a gray.

1868. Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two heads or two tails on it, which they call a grey, and of course they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it a grey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey because he was a two-faced bloke.

2. (common).—See Grayback, sense 1.

3. in. pl. (colloquial).—Yawning; listlessness. Cf., Blues.

Grayback, subs. (common).—1. A louse. Also Scots Greys. Fr., un grenadier. For synonyms, see Chates.

2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants. Cf., sense 1.] See Blue-bellies.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies, during the great Civil War in America ... were known ... as Greybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ‘blue-bellies.’

1890. Scribner’s Mag. Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such abject fear of the graybacks that she regarded the possession of so large a sum as simply inviting destruction.

Gray-beard, subs. (colloquial).—1. An old man. Mostly in contempt.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1. Grey-beard, thy love doth freeze.

a. 1845. Longfellow, Luck of Eden Hall. The gray-beard, with trembling hand obeys.

2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug; now a large earthenware jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with which they were ornamented.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Grey-beard, s.v. Dutch earthen jugs, used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at this time called grey-beards.

1814. Scott, Waverley, ch. lxiv. There’s plenty of brandy in the grey-beard.

1886. The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in America] ‘reverent,’ from the same kind of fancy which led the Scotch to call a whisky jar a grey-beard.

Gray-cloak, subs. (common).—An alderman above the chair. [Because his proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]

Gray-goose, subs. (Scots’).—A big field stone on the surface of the ground.

1816. Scott, Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi’ the grey-geese as they ca’ thae great loose stones.

Grayhound, subs. (general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner; one especially built for speed. Also ocean grayhound.

1887. Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have already become formidable rivals to the English grey hound.

2. (Cambridge University).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare College; a clarian.

1889. Whibley, Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare ... were called grayhounds.

Gray-mare, subs. (common).—A wife; specifically one who wears the breeches (q.v.). [From the proverb, ‘The gray mare is the better horse’ = the wife is master: a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a male horse: Non enim licuerat pontificem sacrorum vel arma ferre, vel praeter quam in equâ equitare.—Beda, Hist. Eccl. ii., 13. Fr., mariage d’epervier = a hawk’s marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord Macaulay’s explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work.]

1546. John Haywood, Proverbs [Sharman’s reprint, 1874]. She is (quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that the grey mare is the better horse.

1550. A Treatyse, Shewing and Declaring the Pryde and Abuse of Women Now a Dayes (in Hazlitt’s Early Popular Poetry, iv., 237). What! shall the graye mayre be the better horse, And be wanton styll at home?

1605. Camden, Remains Concerning Britain [ed. 1870, p. 332]. In list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)

1670. Ray, Proverbs, s.v.

1698–1750. Ward, London Spy,